Snow Princess AU
by Ryojin
Summary: Kazuto is a 2nd year in high school while also secretly being Kirito, the best gamer in the popular game Sword Art Online. He tries to hide this from everyone at school since he tends to keep to himself in the game and IRL. AU where Sword Art Online was not a game of death. SAO arc complete. ALO in progress.
1. Chapter 1

It was the beginning of Kazuto's second year in high school and he still hadn't really made any friends since first year. At the beginning of his first year he stopped some bullies from targeting a group of gamers that he knew but in doing so he put a target on his back. No one had approached him which was probably a good thing since anyone who would try to associate with him would get ostracized in school too.

One of the people that had been bullied, a third year named Ryoutarou, had tried to thank him and be friends with him but Kazuto decided it would be better to ignore him. He thought it would be better this way, but he always felt a twang of guilt whenever he saw him. Ryoutarou was a tall guy with red hair and always wore a bandana. Many people thought he was a delinquent but really he was just a gamer.

Kazuto had spent most of his time during first year at home alone, but he didn't mind since he was a huge fan of the new game that was out called Sword Art Online (SAO). What no one at school knew was that he was ranked as the number one player in that game thanks to all of the hours he had logged. Since SAO was well known around Japan everyone knew about the lone black swordsman named Kirito.

Kirito only had a few contacts inside the game. One was a samurai named Klein who was the leader of a small guild. Another was Agil, a large man who ran the store Kirito would sell all his items at. Kazuto had heard Ryoutarou at school mention SAO and that he was Klein in game and all of his friends were in that guild. The guilt he felt in real life is what pushed him to become friends with him in game.

Kazuto walked to school in the morning with his little sister Suguha, who was starting her first year at school, and her friend Keiko. They were both in the same class together. They were chatting away about how excited they were for their first day of high school when Kazuto ran into something. He was on the ground trying to get up when he noticed that the something he ran into was none other than Asuna Yuuki. Asuna is the most popular beautiful girl in the whole school. Every guy has a crush on her. Although Kazuto doesn't particularly have a crush on her he cannot deny her beauty.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Kazuto helped her up.

"That's alright I was distracted too. You are Kazuto right? You are in my class."

"Yeah that's me." She looked over to the two girls who had been quiet during the whole exchange. "I should introduce you! Asuna this is my little sister Suguha and her friend Keiko. They are first years."

"Nice to meet you two." She shook their hands and smiled at them.

"Asuna! Let's go we are going to be late!" The group looked over and saw another girl who was in Kazuto's class. Rika was Asuna's closest friend and those two were always together.

Asuna ran off and waved.

"Does brother have a crush?"

"Don't be ridiculous! She is the most popular girl in school and you two are the only two in the school I talk to."

"You need some friends. There have to be other weird gamers who play that sword game you play so much."

"Sword Art Online?!" Kazuto turned around to see Ryoutarou standing behind him beaming. "Why didn't you say you played!? You should join our guild!"

"Actually I am already in a guild." He lied.

"What guild?"

"The Army." He chose the largest guild so as to have a good reason why he could just blend in.

"Damn. If you ever want to leave the Furinkazan guild!" He left to rejoin his friends to go to class.

Kazuto turned back to his sister. "Thanks for that. Now he is going to keep bugging me about it. I don't want people knowing I play SAO."

"Why? Aren't you like the best player in the world! That is cool."

"Whatever." Kazuto left the two girls to go to class.

Kazuto sat down in his seat in the back of the class and saw the Asuna and Rika up front chatting away. Everyone got quiet as the teacher walked into the classroom. He was huge! More than 6 feet tall, bald, muscular, and scary looking.

"Everyone to your seats. I will be your homeroom teacher this year. My name is Andrew Mills. Let's get the questions out of the way first. I am really tall. No, I am not a criminal. No, I am not Japanese. Anything else?"

Several students raised their hands to ask questions which Kazuto didn't really pay attention to until something caught his attention. "Even though I am an adult I like to play video games in particular SAO. My character name is Agil and I actually own a shop in the game and I expect you all to become my customers if you play."

Kazuto was surprised. Agil. The only other person in the game he talked to was his homeroom teacher? 'Just how many people do I know that play this game?' he thought.

"Does that mean you are the guy that talks to Kirito!? What is he like?"

He got bombarded with questions. Of course that was going to happen since he revealed his player name IRL. Kazuto felt a little bad though since most of the questions are about him. Agil became pretty popular since he sold Kirito's items which were more valuable since Kirito is further in the game than anyone else. Everyone went around the room and announced their names and what guild they were in. None of the names were well known but some were part of large well known guilds. Kazuto and Asuna were the only two that said they didn't play. Kazuto obviously was lying, but for Asuna that wasn't surprising. Kazuto didn't really see her as a gamer type.

* * *

Later that day after class Kazuto went home to play SAO. He had some level grinding planned for the day and went deep into a dungeon a spent hours there. Suguha wasn't home because she had Kendo practice. The High school team scouted her since she was in the national tournament last year as a middle schooler.

Kazuto had the whole house to himself. After grinding in the dungeon for a long time he realized how late it was. He went back to town to see if Agil was still open but instead while rushing around a corning he ran into someone by accident.

He looked up and saw a beautiful young girl with white hair that even a solo player like him recognized. "Snow Princess?" Snow Princess was considered one of the top players. She was at the head of a highly ranked guild called Knights of the Blood Oath and was considered almost and idol of the game. Everyone knew her.

"Kirito?" Sometimes Kazuto forgot how famous his character was since he always avoided people.

"Sorry I was in a hurry. I was in the dungeon longer than I thought and I was trying to hurry to the Agil's."

"I just came from there. He said he was going to be open for another hour so you don't need to hurry."

"Thank you."

"Can I come with? I want to see some of the stuff you got."

"I guess it really isn't anything interesting." They walked through the town together which was definitely earning some stares. Kirito was used to this treatment but it felt more awkward now. The most mysterious solo player walking through town with the SAO idol.

Kazuto tried to keep small talk going but since he barely ever talks to anyone in or out of game it wasn't going so well. "Do you normally go to Agil's?"

"Sometimes. He runs a good store."

"I see." More awkward pause between the two with more stares as they get closer to the center of town.

The two finally reached the store. When they entered it was packed and after listening a little bit he could pick up a few words like teacher or school. Kirito walked forward and spoke above the sound of the crowd. "Agil you should be careful about IRL information being told in the game Mr. Teacher."

The store grew quiet and stared at Kirito and Snow Princess together. Kazuto looked at them feeling awkward under their stares. He assumed they were his classmates and it made the game he used to escape school feel awkward as well.

"Didn't you just leave Snow Princess?" The shop owner was talking to the girl beside Kirito

"Kirito mentioned he had been in a dungeon all day. I wanted to see what kind of items he picked up considering he is probably 5 levels further in the game than anyone else."

The shop owner turned to the black swordsman. "What do you got for me?"

The video game confidence came back to Kirito. "Just some junk I found lying around." While saying that he opened his window and showed him what he wanted to sell.

"SERIOUSLY! I don't even know what most of this stuff is but there are weapons and armour in here that top players can't even equip!" Everyone was looking back at Kirito.

"Well do you want to buy it? I don't need it and you can probably make good money off of it. I will give you the usual deal?"

"Done."

"What's the usual deal?" The two of them stopped and turned around looking at Snow Princess. They had forgotten she was even there.

"That's a secret." Said the solo player.

The two made their deal and Kirito left the store promising to stop by tomorrow.

Snow Princess followed Kirito out of the store. "Hey do you want to team up tomorrow?"

That surprised him. It used to happen all the time that people wanted to team up with him, but recently people have left him alone. "Sorry I am a solo player."

"It could be for only a little bit. I am pretty highly ranked myself. It could be fun."

He knew he wasn't going to be able to leave until he agreed. "Fine, but you better not drag me down."

"Yay!" She bounded off into the night.

Kazuto logged off after he got back to his in-game apartment. "Why did I agree to this?"

 **A/N: This was pretty fun to write. I plan on continuing the story but I have no idea how long it may go or where it will lead. I hope you enjoy it and give any feedback you can think of since I don't know where I want to go with this your comments may help give me ideas on what to do.**


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Kazuto showed up to class and everyone was talking about Kirito and Snow Princess. Kazuto took his seat in back avoiding all the conversation about his secret identity in the gaming world. As everyone filed into the room Asuna came in through the door in the back of the classroom.

"Everyone seems to be talking about that game." Kazuto jumped and looked behind him. Asuna was smiling at him. He was a silent a little too long. "Sorry, I just figured I would talk to you because you are the only other person here who doesn't play. I didn't mean to bother you."

"It's alright. You just surprised me was all."

"Good." Again her smile pretty much paralyzed him. Before he came back to his senses the bell rang for class to begin. "See you later Kazuto."

"Yeah bye." Asuna went back to her seat and was talking with her friend Rika. Kazuto just sat in his spot staring at her. He couldn't figure it out. Why was she talking to him? Anyone who was associated with him always got bullied. Maybe because it's her she knows it wouldn't happen.

Later in the day I went to eat lunch in the court yard when Ryoutarou and his friends showed up and sat down next to me.

"Kazuto! Did you hear that Kirito and Snow Princess are married?!" Kazuto sprayed the tea that was in his mouth all over the grass. "Yeah it shocked me too."

Kazuto's mind was racing 'Married? Where did that come from? You can get married in the game, but I just met her.' "They probably aren't married. It's probably just a rumor."

"I know but it would be so awesome! The best player in the game and the idol everyone adores!"

That was when three large third years showed up. "Oh look at the losers talking about their stupid little games." As they walked past they 'accidentally' spilt their drinks on Kazuto and Ryoutarou. This was a normal occurrence for Kazuto.

"What the hell man!" Ryoutarou stood up. Bad decision. A fight broke out.

In the end Ryoutarou and his friends got beat up pretty bad. Kazuto got hit too. Unfortunately the third years all pointed their fingers at Kazuto as the instigator. Kazuto got suspended for fighting and sent home.

* * *

He really didn't care about the suspension. School wasn't exactly a fun place for him anyway. He was happy to go home and do what he does best. Slay some monsters. He logged on and woke up in his apartment. It was on the 50th floor. It was pretty far up in the game. The front line players all had their houses on this floor. Agil's shop was up on the 55th floor but it was closed right now since he was teaching.

Kazuto bypassed his normal supply trip since the store was closed and teleported up to the 65th floor. It was quiet up there the way he liked it. A floor with no one else on it. It made his time in the game so much simpler. He didn't have to deal with PKers or people encroaching on his area in the dungeon. It also helped to keep his secret from the rest of the game.

Once Kazuto was safely by himself on this floor he searched his menu and found what he was looking for. He clicked the item he found and suddenly a second black sword appeared on his back. For how famous he was no one knew he could dual wield. It was a skill he achieved after completing a quest that could only be done by one player. Ever since he has hidden this skill from the rest of the game and it became much easier to do that since floor 46 when he started getting a sizable lead ahead of the rest of the game. Dual wielding has definitely helped him clear levels much faster than before and it was the secret behind being so far ahead of all the other players.

He went to work on the 65th floor dungeon cutting down monster after monster with his twin blades. He made it to the floor boss in a matter of hours. He walked in without hesitation to fight the boss and again it wasn't much of a challenge.

Kazuto opened up the 66th floor teleport just as he received a message. He opened it up and read it.

 _Snow Princess: Want to meet up at Agil's in 10?_

He looked at the clock in the corner of the screen. It was already 5 o'clock. "Why did I have to agree to this?" He sent a reply.

 _Kirito: I will be there soon._

He pulled out a teleport crystal and teleported down to the 55th floor. It only took him about 5 minutes to get there but he wanted to stock up on supplies since the store will be open. He walked through the door to the store which had no one besides the store runner there.

"Kirito! Getting ready to dive into a dungeon?"

"Actually I just finished one. I got a head start today. By the way, your fans from yesterday were talking a bit too much about real life in the game. You might want to be more careful."

"I scolded them all about that. Luckily all people heard was that I was a teacher and nothing else. So, what floor are you on now? 64?"

"I just cleared 65."

"That's insane. How do you do it? I haven't even heard of another player who has made it to floor 60."

"That's a secret." Bantering with Agil was one of the reasons he enjoyed talking with the store owner.

"I am going back out so I just want to get some supplies. Usual deal?"

"I still don't understand why you just give away all these high quality items just for some cheap supplies."

"I don't need that money. Plus it allows you to sell the stuff cheaper. It's more interesting to have more people with good gear."

"I will never understand you."

Just then the door flew open and in the door way was Snow Princess. "Are you ready to go?"

Agil looked at Kazuto "Wait a second. Are you teaming up with someone!?"

"Just for a little bit. She badgered me into it yesterday."

"HEY!" The girl seemed to protest a bit to that assumption.

"Well let's get going." Kazuto walked out the door dragging along the pouting Snow Princess with him.

They walked all the way up to the teleportation portal on the 55th floor when Kirito finally realized he had held her hand the whole way. He quickly let go of it. "Sorry. This won't help the rumors."

"Rumors?" She looked at him quizzically.

"You didn't hear? People are talking about how we are married."

"What?!"

"That was just from people seeing us together yesterday. Now we just walked through a busy city in the middle of the day holding hands. I can't imagine what the rumors will be tomorrow."

"Well whatever they are just rumors. It's not like it matters. So where are we going?"

"How far do you want to go?"

"Let's go to the farthest you can." (If you party up with someone you can go as far into the game as the furthest anyone in that party has unlocked.)

"Well then level 66 it is."

"66!? You are that far!" He pulled her through the teleportation portal and they came out in the city he had just left less than 20 minutes earlier.

"He we are. I just unlocked it earlier today." This floor was covered in ruins. It was designed after classic castles found in Austria but on a much larger scale since it covered the whole floor. "I haven't had any time to explore yet."

"I can't believe you are here already. I am only on 58." He went into his items and started searching through his list and was about to click down on the second sword when he remembered he wasn't alone. "That was close." He whispered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

They went into the ruins and came upon a group of wyverns. (The main monsters for this level.) They worked together to beat the monsters. Kirito could have done it on his own but with another person it went faster. He quickly realized this girl wasn't all talk. She had skill. She used a fencing stance which made sense with the rapier she had. Most of her moves consisted of rapid thrusts and piercing moves.

The two cleared through a good section of the dungeon on that floor. They were able to reach the mid-floor boss which turned into an extremely difficult battle. Since Snow Princess had stats mostly on agility when she took damage she had to stop and heal up. During one of these times Kirito got low on health. He was having difficulties fighting the mid-floor boss with only one sword.

"I am going to have to use it." He muttered under his breath. "Snow Princess! Can you keep a secret?"

She looked up from healing herself surprised from the sudden conversation in the middle of a battle. "Sure." She had a confused look on her face.

He smirked back at her. "Good." That was when he pulled out the second sword and did a powerful move against the boss with both swords. The large wyvern was destroyed. At the same time from the final blow the sword in his left hand broke too. It shattered into a bunch of pixelated shards.

"What was that?" She looked surprised after seeing the display. He was too distraught to notice her response.

"My sword. It broke." He was looking down at his left hand.

"How can you dual wield?"

"I completed a quest where it was a reward but the quest could only be done by one person. I wanted to keep it a secret since I get enough attention as is."

"I understand that." They both sat in silence for a little bit. "If you want, a friend of mine is a skilled blacksmith. We could go talk to her tomorrow."

"Thanks. Can you not tell anyone about this?"

"I can keep it secret. I may run a guild but I don't really talk to a lot of people like this."

"Really? Aren't you like some SAO idol?"

"People call me that, but I just like playing with friends. Most people in real life don't even know about me playing this game."

"Why not? Almost everyone plays games, especially this game. There is nothing weird about girls playing video games…. You are a girl in real life right?" They both burst out laughing. It is pretty common for guys to play as girls in an RPG like this.

"Don't worry I am girl, but we should get going."

The two of them made their way out of the ruins and took the teleport back to the 55th floor. They walked through the city to Agil's laughing the whole way completely oblivious to all the people watching them.

Agil was staring at the two of them. "Are you guys alright? How was the 66th floor?"

"It was fun. We will have to go back tomorrow!" The princess answered him. He looked at the unusual combo suspiciously. It was the first time he had seen a genuine smile on Kirito. Maybe the combo would be good for them. They traded their goods and the two of them left the store.

They went back to their apartments which were both on the same floor. "Meet up at the same time and place tomorrow? I will take you to my friends to get you a new sword."

"Wait. I was wondering, why did you want to team up with me? Was it just to get to the higher levels?" She stopped and thought about it. It had gotten dark outside and the two were the only two on the street.

"No that's not it. I just thought it might be fun." She took off down the street and out of sight.

"She is a strange one." Kirito went up to his room and saved the game and logged off.

 **A/N: I think this story is going to be mostly fluff. At least that is the direction it is headed but we will see. I am a huge fan of reveal fics so there is a good chance this will turn into one. I hope everyone is enjoying this and I am glad I could get a second chapter done quickly.**


	3. Chapter 3

Kazuto woke up the next day and got to work right away. In this case work meant collecting resources in SAO. Yesterday Kazuto broke one of his swords in a battle and was planning on going to get a new one made by a blacksmith that was friends with Snow Princess. The problem was getting a good enough quality sword to match his own. That required high end resources in addition to a good blacksmith.

The best resources Kazuto could think of could only be found on floor 55. There was a dragon there that dropped Crystallite Ignot. It was a strong mineral that could make a good sword.

He went to fight it and didn't have too much of a problem since he was much higher level than the dragon. Unfortunately when he killed the dragon it didn't drop a lot of the mineral. He had to wait for it to respawn two more times before he had enough to make a good sword. This took him most of the day to accomplish because of the length of the re-spawn time for the dragon was quite long.

After getting the materials he teleported back to town to sell off his other items. He walked into the store as large store owner was there. "Kirito, back again for more supplies?"

"Actually I need to sell some stuff I got in a dungeon today. I am making a trip to the blacksmith."

"You need a new sword? Your sword seems fine now."

"I need something a little better. My sword isn't really going to cut it out on any more floors." Kirito had his excuse ready in advanced knowing that these questions would come.

"Well alright. You have been spending a lot more time in game recently. You are going to leave the rest of us even further behind than you already have. "

"I can't help it if you guys can't keep up." The door slammed shut behind him.

"Funny, I thought I was keeping up with you just fine yesterday." The girl in white hair interjected.

"Snow Princess you are late."

"I wanted to make sure my friend was logged in. It'd be awkward if I brought you to her shop and she wasn't even open."

"I guess. See you later Agil!" The two left the shop and went down the road to the portal.

"Those two have been really close recently." Said the shop owner to no one in particular.

The two top players walked to the teleport gate and went down to floor 48 to Lisbeth's Armory. It was a small store with swords all over the walls and in glass cases.

"Hey Liz! This is my friend Kirito he needs a sword."

"Kirito? THE Kirito?" The blacksmith was a little shorter than Kirito and had short pink hair. She eyed her friend suspiciously. "Is that where you were yesterday?"

"Yes, we were up in a dungeon. Kirito needs a new sword so I recommended you!"

"What kind of sword do you need? I make Snow Princess's swords so I should be able to make one to your liking." The blacksmith directed her questions at the solo player. She talked with a bit of spunk and confidence which was different from most of the way people talked to Kirito in game.

"I am mostly strength and agility. Something along those lines would be best." He drew his black sword he had on his back and handed it over the blacksmith. "Something like this."

She looked over the sword stats screen and her eyes grew as big as bowling balls. "This is insane! I have never seen a sword of this quality. Just what I would expect of the best player in SAO." She handed the sword back to him. "I can make a sword close to that in quality but I need some materials that I don't have here."

Kirito scrolled through is items and pulled out the ignots he had retrieved earlier. "Would these help. I wanted to make sure I had good material for a sword and I heard this material is some of the best available right now."

"You got this from killing the dragon on the 55th floor right?"

"I was up there earlier today."

"This will be good enough to make a sword." She went into the back room and got to work. Kirito and Asuna could hear the hammering coming from the back room. It didn't take long for her to come back out with a light blue sword. She handed it to Kirito. "Will this be good enough?" Kirito grabbed the sword and swung it a few times to get a feel for it.

"Yes. The weight feels about right and the stats are equal to the sword I have now. How much will it be?"

"Since you brought the materials, and you are a friend of Snow Princess's I won't charge you. I got a lot of XP making that sword. Just make sure if you need anything else come back here." Kirito felt awkward about accepting a deal like that but he agreed. Kirito thanked her and left the store leaving the two girls in the store alone.

"Thanks for the help Liz!" She turned to follow after Kirito but something Liz stopped her.

"Just be careful not to get hurt."

"It's a video game I can't actually get hurt. You always worry too much."

"Asuna… That's not what I meant. There are a lot of rumors about that guy. Don't get too attached. You are the first person he has partied with but don't think it will last forever."

"Don't use my real name in game, Rika! And it's not like that we are just partying for now."

"You say that now but I know you. And that guy is definitely your type."

"I don't even know what you are talking about." Snow Princess stormed out of the blacksmiths shop.

"Hey. Did something happen?" She startled and looked to her left to see Kirito. He had been waiting for her outside the shop.

"Just a little squabble between friends." She was suddenly worried about everything being overheard. "Did you hear any of that?"

"No I didn't. Did you still want to go into the dungeon today? I was going to go test out the new sword if you wanted to come."

"Sure!" Her doubts about him were gone and she flashed a large grin at him.

The two of them went to the teleport gate and went back up to the 66th floor and picked up where they left off. They entered the dungeon and fought off mob after mob together. They were starting to work really well together and got each other's fighting patterns down.

"There is a rest zone let's stop and eat." The princess suggested (Even though this is just a game, it requires the players to eat food or else you will start losing health.)

"Alright." The two sat down and pulled out the food they had brought.

The Snow Princess had produced a large bento box filled with stew and rice. While Kirito produced some stale looking bread. "How high is your cooking skill?" Kirito was a little surprised at the sight of such high quality food. He generally avoided wasting money on food and just got the cheap stuff.

"It's pretty high. I like to enjoy delicious food while in game even if it's not real. Is that so wrong." She turned accusatory toward Kirito. He pulled back a little from defense.

"No it's not. You just didn't seem like someone who would focus on cooking."

"Well I do. What about you? Don't you do anything else in this game beside dungeon crawling?"

"Not really. Just that and quests."

"Why don't you try joining a guild then?"

He froze and looked over at her. This was a question he hated and everyone always asked him. What is he supposed to say? That he hates guilds or the idea of all the backstabbing and power plays that happen inside them. To Kirito guilds are just filled with annoying political games.

"I just like the freedom of being on my own that's all."

"If you ever want to. Join a guild the KoB would be happy to take you."

"Oh? Is this some recruiting mission?" She looked surprised after that assumption.

"No, not at all! I just wanted to let you know that's all. If you want to continue to solo play that's fine."

He was skeptical. "I don't want to be some pawn or tool to try to make your guild look better."

"You should know me better than that by now." Kazuto got up re-equipped his swords.

"Well then let's finish up some more practice." He held out his hand to her.

They spent two more hours in the dungeon on the 66th floor before they called it a day. The new sword performed well and was perfect for what Kirito needed. Also it added some much needed color to his all black ensemble.

* * *

The next day Kazuto's suspension was up. He walked to class with his sister and her friend Keiko again. "Brother, I heard rumors that you had a girlfriend."

"What do you mean?" He was taken aback by this.

"The talk of the whole school is how the Snow Princess and Kirito have been together a lot recently."

"Sugu, it's a game. We partnered up for a while to work together it is nothing more than that." Kazuto was starting to get annoyed by all the people assuming this.

"Did you say something about Kirito and Snow Princess?" Kazuto spun around to find Asuna standing behind him. She seemed a little surprised to see him. "Kazuto? Didn't you get suspended for fighting?"

"Maybe I was referring to the wrong girlfriend big brother?" Suguha leaned over and whispered just loud enough that only Kazuto heard.

"I was suspended but it's over today. Also it was just a small misunderstanding not a big fight."

"Good I was worried since I hadn't seen you. I am glad you didn't get hurt."

"Thank you. Also my sister was just telling me rumors how Snow Princess and Kirito were dating which sounds kind of crazy. I hear Kirito is just some guy who plays alone. People just like to jump to conclusions so it's probably nothing."

"I don't know from what I heard they sound perfect for each other." Kazuto froze. 'What? Do people really think that?' "Anyway, I will see you in class. Bye!"

Asuna ran off smiling. 'What am I saying? What am I thinking? That me and Kirito would be perfect?! God Rika was right! I think I really did start liking this guy…. She is never going to let me hear the end of it.'

Kazuto finished walking to school with his sister and Keiko. "Hey brother! I almost forgot to tell you I started playing SAO too!"

"We both did." Keiko joined in the conversation.

"Really? You don't seem like the video game types."

"I thought it would be good practice for kendo. Practicing sword abilities in the game is like practicing in real life, but a little more fun." Kazuto thought it was weird having his little sister encroaching on his world a little weird, but maybe it could be fun.

"What are your character names? I will have to add you to my friends list."

"I am Leafa."

"Silica."

The three of them finished walking to school. Kazuto walked into class and sat down. As he looked up he saw Asuna talking to Rika. They made eye contact and she smiled at him and waved. Kazuto felt heat rising to his cheeks as he waved back. 'This can't be happening. I know she's pretty but she is definitely not my type.'

He was saved by the bell and Mr. Mills walked in to the room. "Everyone, I have an announcement. In Sword Art online they is a large event coming up called 'Battle of the Guilds.' It is a tournament style competition where teams of 36 players battle other teams. I would like to enter. If you wish to join then please show up at the shop at 6 o'clock tonight." Everyone in the class was cheering. That was everyone except Kazuto and Asuna who shared a look of guilt. They were both thinking the same exact thing. 'What do I do now?'

 **A/N: To give credit where it is due I should say the idea about a class participating in a gaming tournement did come from Ultimate Otaku teacher. I hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter and we will see if I can keep this going in a good direction. Also I decided to switch the in game roles of the two so Kirito is the guy who just wants to grind away in the dungeon while Snow Princess works to thoroughly enjoy it.**


	4. Chapter 4

Everyone in class spent the whole day talking about the 'Battle of the Guilds' even though Mr. Mills was trying to do some actual teaching. Everyone was too excited about participating in the tournament. Kazuto ignored most of the talk like usual. Although one part of the conversation did catch his attention.

"Since our class has 31 students and 2 of them do not play SAO I will recruit a few others to join so we can reach 36. Counting me we will be at 30 total."

Then Rika had raised her hand. "What about asking Kirito and Snow Princess? You are friends with them right?"

Kazuto's head shot up too late to see Rika winking at Asuna. He knew he was going to get roped into this by Snow Princess just like she dragged him into a party a few days earlier. "I will ask Kirito next time he comes into the store."

After class ended Kazuto went home and logged in to hurry and get to the store first for the day so he could turn down the invitation to the Battle of the Guilds. Unfortunately as he walked through the door a certain girl with long white hair was already there. "Kirito! Guess what! Agil invited us to be on his Battle of the Guilds team. You should join us."

Kirito knew there was no getting out of it. "I don't have anything else going on. How many people do you have?" he directed the last part toward Agil.

"With you two it puts me at 32 people. I need another 4."

"I might have someone I know who could help with that."

Kirito opened up his friend list and sent out a message to one of the other people on his list and got a response immediately. "I just got you 4 more people for your team."

"Really?! Who?" At that moment a red haired samurai walked through the door with 3 people from his guild following him.

"Excuse me, but I was told that you needed 4 more for your team. We samurai will swear our allegiance to you team leader!"

"Klein….. You are going too far with the samurai stuff. Agil, this is Klein of the Furin Kazan guild and 3 of his guild mates." That made 36 on the team. The 7 of them decided on a time to meet up with the whole team during the weekend. After it was decided that they would meet on Saturday at 3 pm they all left and went their separate ways.

Kirito and Snow Princess went up to the 66th floor dungeon and continued where they left off from the day before. The two of them worked perfectly together now. They had only teamed up for three days but they were able to move like they knew what the other was thinking. The dungeon couldn't throw anything at this team that they couldn't handle. It only took them two more hours before they came upon the giant doors that told them they had just found the boss room.

"We already found the boss room? In only three days?" The Snow Princess almost dropped her sword she was so shocked they had found it so quickly.

"It normally takes me 5-7 days, but I guess it does go faster with 2 people." He looked over at her and smiled a mischievous smile at her. "You ready to go in?"

"What?" The shock on her face could have been seen from the moon.

"Come on, let's go beat it." Kirito casually strode up to the giant doors that reached to the ceiling and slowly pushed them open.

Kirito and Snow Princess entered the room and the torches lit. There was a Wyvern larger than a house in the middle of the room. The both gulped. "How do you do this on your own?"

"Lots of practice. Although with you here it should be a piece of cake." They both smiled and went to work on the 66th floor boss. Kirito used his dual sword attacks and his strength ability to keep the wyvern off balance and it allowed Snow Princess to land several attacks thrusting attacks. The boss's final health bar went down into the red and Kirito initiated his best move Starburst Stream to finish him off.

The boss burst into shards and a large congratulations came across their field of vision. It had taken them more than 30 minutes to defeat him. "See I told you it would be easy."

"If that is what you consider easy I am scared to see what you think is hard." They both started laughing and collapsed on the ground from fatigue. They both spent 5 minutes in silence laying on the ground. Kirito finally got up and offered his hand to the girl laying on the ground. "Let's go check out the next level. We can activate the gate then you will have access to these levels too." (If someone is in a party and helps defeat a boss on a level they don't have access to all levels they skipped will become accessible to them.)

She grabbed his hand and they walked up to the stairs together to the 67th floor. The 67th floor was a desert so large you wouldn't be able to see anything else for miles. It was filled with giant scorpions from what they could tell. They were half way to the city when Snow Princess noticed she hadn't let go of Kirito's hand. The blush that rose to her face rivaled the color of a tomato. She let go quickly hoping he didn't notice how flustered she was.

They got to the gate and activated it.

"It's so quiet here. Doesn't it get boring like this?"

"Not really. I am used to it since I spend most of my time in the game on floors by myself."

"But you're happy I am here right?"

Kirito turned around a look at her. "Yeah, it has been pretty fun these last few days. Did you still want to stay teamed up? Don't you have duties with your guild?" Asuna was relieved. She had been a bit worried that she forced him to party with her.

"No we have taken a break. We just do meetings every once in a while. Otherwise we are free to do what we want."

"That's pretty relaxed."

They both sat down still recovering from the boss battle. "I was wondering. I thought you always played alone so how do you know Klein?"

"Ouch. It sounds like you think I have no friends. I do have a few, but it's more of just a habit to be by myself. I talk to a lot of people IRL." He grew a little solemn while explaining this. She grew silent and the air between them grew awkward. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring real world in game."

"No that's fine. If you want to talk about it it's alright. We are friends aren't we?"

Kirito thought about that they weren't they. He has acquaintances but the girl sitting next to him was the only person he could call his friend. And he had only known her for a few days. "Yeah we are. So if you ever want to talk to me about stuff you can too."

She smiled at him. She was busy having an internal struggle though. She wanted to get this boy in front of her to talk more about his life. More about who he was. She wanted to know him because she was pretty sure she had already fallen for him, hard. "Of course!"

The two of them went back to their apartments and saved and exited the game.

* * *

The next day Kazuto was walking to class by himself. Suguha had kendo practice in the morning and Keiko went with her.

"KAZUTO!" He spun around to see Asuna skipping toward him with a smile on her face.

"You seem to be in a good mood. Did something happen?"

"Yep!" She didn't say what it was though. "You aren't with your sister and the other first year today. Are they ok?"

"Sugu had practice and Keiko went with her." They started walking towards school. "What about you? Normally you are with Rika aren't you?"

Asuna frowned "She went and got sick. It's just a cold though no need to be –" Asuna plummeted to the ground after she tripped over nothing. Showing just how graceful she really is. She realized how ridiculous she must have looked and sat there pouting while Kazuto spent a good amount of time trying and failing to hold in his laughter.

"It wasn't that funny."

He extended out his hand to her and smiled "Let's go. We don't want to be late for class." She stopped for a minute. She thought she felt a hint of Déjà vu, but put it out of her mind. She let the boy pull her up and the two walked into class laughing about what had transpired on the way to class.

Everyone in class was staring at them but they didn't know why. They both had confused looks on their face when Kazuto realized something. He was still holding Asuna's hand from when he helped her up. He let go of her hand quickly and turned bright red.

She immediately went red too after realizing they had been holding hands the whole time. They both quietly went to their seats and avoided eye contact the whole time. Once again the whole class was a buzz with rumors. The only problem for Kazuto was that this time it was his not so secret identity that was the talk of the school. The girl that half the school had a crush on had walked to class holding hands with some loser with no friends (That's what the school was saying at least.)

Kazuto hurried out of the room when the bell for lunch sounded to avoid everyone. He went to the courtyard again to eat and of course Ryoutarou had to show up. "Hey buddy! I heard some rumors about you!"

"Oh great. Not you too."

"Nice job getting Asuna. Even the third years talk about her." A knot grew in his stomach at the mention of this. Jealousy?

"We are just friends that's all."

"Well if that's how it is then how about we talk about more important things. Like Battle of the Guilds! I got asked to be on a team! Not only that but it's the same team as Kirito and Snow Princess. Maybe then I can finally figure out if they are dating!" In all the annoyances that had happened earlier in the day, Kazuto had totally forgotten about the team. It was Friday right now meaning they had a strategy meeting tomorrow. "Are you going to be competing Kazuto?"

Kazuto heard something behind him. Asuna was standing behind him. Had she heard the whole conversation? "Can I talk to you?" She looked serious and a little worried.

"Uh.. Sure." Kazuto got up from his seat and went to follow Asuna when Ryoutarou decided to give him a wink and a thumbs up. All Kazuto could do was roll his eyes.

Asuna and Kazuto walked over to a gazebo that was in the courtyard and sat down on a bench. "I am sorry about earlier. You know… about holding your hand."

"Umm… It's fine." Kazuto couldn't figure out why his heart was pounding so hard until it finally hit him. The jealousy he felt earlier. The embarrassment from holding her hand. The heat immediately rose to his face. 'I like her?'

"Everyone keeps asking me if we are dating now it's so annoying. I wish they would just leave me alone. It doesn't help me the Rika isn't here today."

"Well, if your plan was to make everyone think we aren't dating then dragging me off alone and sitting on a bench together during lunch in full view of the cafeteria was probably not the best choice." Kazuto motioned up to the second floor where Asuna could see all of the eyes staring at them through the windows.

They both started laughing. They finished eating together and went back to class. Again all of the stares made Kazuto feel uncomfortable. The whole class was buzzing again with the new information about the two having lunch together, but he was too busy thinking about something else. That something else was the beautiful girl sitting at the front of the room.

'I have it bad.'

 **A/N: Here is another chapter. This story is a lot more fluff than I thought it was going to be and it seems like it is going to be a lot longer than I had anticipated but it has definitely been fun to write. We will have to see where it ends up. Thank you for reading it and I hope you continue to enjoy it as much as I have.**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Kazuto logged on and went to the agreed upon meeting place. It was floor 50 that Agil had chosen. Kirito and Snow Princess met up along the way and entered the room that Agil had reserved for the meeting together. They were the last to arrive and were immediately swarmed by the players.

Agil was barely able to reign everyone in. "Alright everyone here is the plan. The Battle of the Guilds is in one week so we need to practice working together and formations. We will be organized into parties of 6. Since 30 people here are from the same class and there are 6 people who aren't those 6 will form a party while we form 5 parties amongst ourselves."

Klein walked up to Kirito. "What does he mean same class?"

"That's right! I forgot to tell you that Agil is a teacher and he formed a team with his class but only had 30 people."

"Really? I wish that kind of stuff happened at my school." Kirito couldn't help but laugh at the irony. This was Klein's school.

Agil spent awhile going over formations that Kirito already knew about which caused his mind to drift. He thought about the girl at school. He remembered the warmth of her hand in his. The way her smile would make him feel like…

"Kirito?" He came back to reality as the girl next to him elbowed him in the side. "Are you still here?"

"Sorry. I was somewhere else for a minute. Did I miss anything?"

"Not really. Just basic formations and jobs for each group. Our party will be attackers since we have the highest level players."

"So most of the others will act as tanks?"

"Yeah it's a good strategy. Also everyone is going to go out to try to get some money for upgrading gear for the battle." At that Kirito stood up and walked up to Agil who was saying goodbyes to everyone who was leaving.

"If you want I have some stuff in storage I will never use. It could help with upgrading some people." Kirito sent a trade message to Agil and put a bunch of equipment and some money in it. "Consider it my contribution to the war chest."

The store owner's eyes went wide. "Where did you get this?"

"Me and the princess took down 66th floor boss yesterday so I got a few things from that."

"Just when I think that you wouldn't surprise me anymore you go and clear a level in 3 days."

While Kirito was talking to Agil he noticed something he didn't see before. In the corner of the room was Liz who was talking to some of his classmates. 'Why was Liz here?'

"Hey, the girl over there with pink hair is Liz right? Is she in your class?" Agil looked over his shoulder to see the pink haired girl behind him.

"Yes. Do you know her?"

"She's a friend of Snow Princess. She is the one who made my new sword." Kirito had been keeping the new teal colored sword equipped since he had just had it commissioned. He unsheathed it off his back and handed it to Agil.

"Damn! She has skill." He used his appraisal skill to check out the stats of the sword he was holding. "I may have to talk to her. Maybe we could get some new equipment for the team made with the money you gave me."

Kirito wasn't really thinking about that. He was too busy trying to figure out who in his class was Liz. He didn't really pay attention when everyone was talking about their in game avatars.

Snow Princess walked up behind Kirito while he was contemplating this. "Let's go." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door of the meeting room.

"Where are we going?"

"To check out floor 67 obviously." Kirito had planned to go up there after the meeting anyway. Snow Princess dragged Kirito across the floor to the portal and as they were about to enter 3 players exited the portal.

One player was the same height as Snow Princess but had long blonde hair and wore green clothes. On her waist was a long katana with a decorated hilt. To her left was a shorter girl with brown hair that was done up in pig tails. She carried a small dagger on her side and wore a red and white coat and skirt. On the right side of the blonde girl was a short guy with green hair who also wielded a small dagger.

"Brother?" The blonde girl looked at Kirito.

Kirito was confused for a minute until he remembered what Sugu had told him the other day. "Leafa? Didn't you just create an account? How are you on level 50?"

"I partied with a friend from school so I could come up here. His name is Recon." She motioned to the guy standing next to her. He looked nervous.

"You said your brother was up here but you never said he was Kirito!"

"Nice to meet you. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine." Kirito tried to calm the guy down. It really didn't work. He was still acting awkward and distant which Kirito had found was a normal reaction to most people in the game. Most people avoided and were scared of him. He had heard many rumors about himself that traveled through the game and most were not good.

"You are Kirito's imouto?" All the attention moved to the girl who had been standing silently next to Kirito. "It's nice to meet you I am Snow Princess."

"AHHH! Snow Princess too!" The boy Recon had been overloaded.

Kirito grabbed Snow Princess's hand and started to go through the portal. "Well we got to go." Snow Princess's face went bright red and she was unable to protest. As she got pulled through the portal. All of this did not go unnoticed by Leafa.

"Brother you are such an idiot." She watched them disappear.

* * *

After 3 hours of working their way through the dungeon they took a break. Again Snow Princess pulled out an amazing looking lunch. It was a huge sandwich that looked so delicious Kirito's mouth was watering while he held some plain bread.

"Don't look at me like that. I brought some for you too." Snow Princess pulled out a second lunch and handed it to Kirito.

"Really?!" He took it and inhaled it so fast he barely even tasted it. Snow Princess laughed at this.

While he waited for her to finish he brought up the thing that had been on his mind all day. "Did you notice that Liz was in the group before?"

"Huh?" The girl looked up surprised.

"She was at the meeting today. I thought it was weird since it was Agil's class and then us extras."

"She was the reason we got invited. They needed more people and apparently she suggested that the teacher invite us since she was friends with us in game and knew that Agil knew us in game too." Kirito thought back to the day in class when Mr. Mills was talking about the event. He remembered it was Rika who suggested inviting the two of them. So Rika was Liz?

"That's a weird coincidence. It's like everyone is connected in real life."

"What about running into your sister? You really don't seem like a big brother type." She was trying to change the topic quickly away from potentially dangerous territory.

"Well me and my sister are really close. Although she isn't really my sister."

This got her attention. "What do you mean?"

"I found out a while ago that she is actually my cousin. My aunt raised both of us as siblings. When I figured it out I distanced myself from her and I saw it hurt her. Then this last year she found out about it but it didn't bother her so we ended up going back to the way we were… Sorry about that I kind of laid it all out again." He had practically blurted out his whole life story to someone who was tantamount to a stranger. He didn't know anything about her but here he was talking about something he never even talked to his sister about.

"I told you before that we are friends and you can tell me anything no matter what. Plus it seems like everything turned out fine." She was happy that Kirito was finally opening up to her. She wanted to be closer to him and the only way to do that would be to open up too. This was part of her grand plan to win him over. "The funny thing is I started playing this game because of my older brother too."

"You did?"

"He had a copy from beta testing and when the game officially went online he was out of town for work. I wanted to check it out so I borrowed it for a while and fell in love with this world."

"Does he still play?"

"Not really he works so much he really doesn't have time."

"That's too bad." The conversation ended up dying off after that. They sat in awkward silence. While Snow Princess was trying to think of things to keep Kirito talking so she could get closer to him Kirito was thinking of how to get close to a different girl, well the same girl but he didn't know that. Unfortunately he was just as oblivious about other girls.

"Hey can I ask you for advice?" He wanted to get a girls advice on his dilemma

"Advice on what?"

"Girls." Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. She wanted to get close and get him to open up but this is not what she wanted.

"Sure what do you want to know?"

"How do you get a girl to notice you?"

"That depends on the girl and your current relationship."

"Well that's just it. There really isn't a relationship. We have talked but I don't think I can consider her a friend."

"It's a crush from afar? Those are difficult."

"Yes and in case you can't tell about the amount of time I spend in here I am not a social butterfly and this girl is the talk of the whole school." Although Snow Princess was feeling hurt by this whole conversation considering Kirito was the guy she liked and everyone in the game and most of her friends in the real world talk about him.

"I understand that. I have been in a similar situation. It tends to never work out. Those kind of people are out of reach."

"I thought you were supposed to help? Plus the whole school seemed to misunderstand something and thinks we are dating now. She looked embarrassed when she heard that. I am just a nuisance to her."

"It could be she was embarrassed because she likes you and was worried what you thought." That's how she felt about all the rumors about her and Kirito dating. It made her embarrassed and she hated talking about it because she wished it would happen. "You never know. She may be the one everyone talks about but she may still be just as alone as you." This also came from experience. When she was at school she would get stares, hear whispers, and all the rumors. Yet with all this she only had one friend Rika, and maybe Kazuto. They had talked a bit recently.

"Well I guess I am just hopeless until I learn more."

"Just try getting closer. Spending more time with someone could open their eyes."

"I guess I could try."

Snow Princess was bordering on breaking out in tears from this conversation. The guy she had a crush on was asking her for advice to win over some other girl. Inside the game it is even harder to control emotions. She decided that she was ready to be done for today before she made it worse or embarrassed herself and the two went back to the 50th floor. As they were about to leave Snow Princess stopped him "Hey. Good luck on what we talked about. If you ever want to talk about it I will be here. I bet the girl will be able to see how great you are."

"I doubt it. But thanks for talking it really meant a lot. Asuna will never notice someone like me." With that he walked into his apartment and logged out leaving Snow Princess still frozen on the street where he left her. She felt like a bomb had been dropped on her.

"Did he say Asuna?"

 **A/N: Things are starting to get interesting. I have some of the next scene typed up but I decided to leave it on a cliff hanger. I still have no idea how far I am going to take this but as long as people keep reading and its still fun to write I will keep going.**

 **Just a warning the next 3 weeks are very busy so I may not be updating as much as I have to this point.**


	6. Chapter 6

Asuna was lying in bed. She had so many thoughts running through her head. 'It couldn't be? He likes me IRL? No that's unlikely there are many people named Asuna. Even if he did like me what if he is just some person that thinks I am pretty and knows nothing. I have heard people talk like that at school. He said that he and Asuna aren't even really friends. AHHH! Why did it turn out like this?'

Meanwhile, A few miles away Kazuto was lying in bed having his own mental meltdown. 'Why did I say all of that to her? I don't even know her or anything about her! I just told her everything! Why do I feel so comfortable talking to her? Now that I think about it though I know more about Snow Princess than I do about Asuna. Do I even like Asuna?'

Kazuto went downstairs to get some food since it was late and he hadn't eaten since he went in game. On his way down he ran into his sister who was at the kitchen table working on homework. "Brother, how was your date?"

He froze. "What are you talking about? I was playing SAO you saw me."

"Yes I saw you holding hands with a pretty girl and you rushed off to be alone with her." She cocked her eye brows and paired it with a mischievous smirk. This made Kazuto turn bright red. He still couldn't quite figure out how he felt about the girl but he knew he felt something and having his sister point it out so easily caused him to be a little off balance.

He started mumbling shyly. "I don't know what you are talking about we were in a dungeon." Which just confirmed for Suguha that something was going on and she was not going to let up.

"Sure is that why you are flustered after logging out. The rumors at school are that you two have been spending a lot of time together. Good thing your girlfriend at school has no idea that you are Kirito otherwise she would be jealous." The glass of water that Kazuto had been drinking was now all over the wall. "Brother it's not nice to be a two-timer." She was enjoying it way too much.

"I am not sure where you are getting these ideas that I am some girl magnet, but you are way off base. There is no way I could get either one of those girls."

"Well, I guess you are right." Sugu remembers back to a few hours earlier.

 _Snow Princess and Kirito had just leapt into the portal and left the three other players standing there._

" _Leafa, your brother is so cool!"_

" _Yes he is Silica, and it looks like you have some tough competition." Silica looked at Leafa trying to act surprised._

" _What!"_

" _I know you have had a crush on him all this time. It's why you always want to walk to school with us isn't it?"_

" _Well… uhh….."_

" _Then there is that girl we have seen at school with him. Some of the rumors say they have been seen holding hands." Silica was so embarrassed by this point she couldn't even utter a sound._

 _The boy next to them decided to jump in. "You guys are crazy I still can't believe your brother is Kirito."_

 _The girls both turned and laughed at that. "Well good luck Silica. You are going to need it."_

"Brother really is clueless." Sugu muttered under her breath

"What did you say?" Kirito turned toward the table where his sister was studying.

"Nothing."

* * *

On Sunday Asuna spent the day studying with Rika at the library. They met up in the afternoon to work on the homework they had both been neglecting all weekend so they could play SAO. They had been sitting at a table in the study area for 2 hours when Asuna finally gave up on the math homework in front of her. She had more pressing concerns on her mind.

"Rika, what do you think of Kirito?"

Rika looked up from the textbook she had her nose stuffed inside and looked at her friend with an annoyed look. "Are we still on this?"

"I was wondering what kind of person you thought he was."

"You are the one that knows him better than anyone else. He doesn't partner up with anyone except you. So how would I know more than you"

Asuna thought about it. Nobody else in game really talked to him. Was she really the person closest to him? "I guess that makes sense." She thought about the conversation they had about his sister. He had told her so much about himself. "I met his sister yesterday."

"His sister?"

"Yes in the game she came up to us and introduced herself to us after the meeting yesterday. She had just started the game though. She was probably only able to be on level one and two based on the equipment she had"

"That's just more proof you know him better than me so why are you talking to me about it."

"Something happened yesterday while we were taking a break."

"Did he do something to you!? Do I need to beat him up?!"

She made a fist with her right hand and started cracking her knuckles. Rika was very protective of Asuna. It made Asuna happy that she had a friend like this. A Liberian glared at Rika and shushed her after the outburst.

"No nothing like that. It's just I found out that he had a girl he likes IRL and asked me for advice about it."

"Well I guess that makes him an oblivious idiot, but that doesn't seem surprising since he is a bit of a loner in game. He probably hasn't picked up on all the obvious hints that you are in love with him yet."

"Hey! I am not that obvious! And he has a reason to be a solo player."

"So he has a secret that only he has told you?" Asuna nodded at the statement and blushed a little on top of it. "That doesn't surprise me, but I don't understand. If you know all this about him why are you asking me about it? It sounds like you are getting really close to him as it is. Too bad he likes someone else though."

"Maybe closer than I thought." She mumbled it so it was barely audible but Rika was still able to catch her friend's response.

"What do you mean?"

"When he was talking about the girl he has a crush on, he said she was a popular girl at his school and that she doesn't even really notice him….. He may have also accidentally let slip that her name is Asuna." She dragged out the last part while trying to avoid eye contact with Rika.

That got Rika's attention. She put started putting the books she had been studying away. "Well that is interesting…. Do you think he goes to our school?"

"I don't know. I mean there are be many people in Japan named Asuna. In fact last night I was a bit worried about it and couldn't sleep so I looked it up. There are more than 150 Asuna's of high school age in just Tokyo."

"That's true. You are probably thinking about it too hard. Anyway if he said he has a crush on this 'Asuna' but isn't really friends with her that means he would be one of those guys that just thinks you are pretty and doesn't know you. But if he actually has a crush on the real you then just make him fall in love with Snow Princess. They are both the same person."

Asuna thought about that. It made sense overall but someone falling in love with two different people could be difficult. "Maybe I should try to figure out who Kirito is."

"He may not even go to our school. Wouldn't it be better if you could get Kirito to like you in game as Snow Princess? Then if that works you can reveal you are Asuna and find out if he really does go to our school."

"Rika. I don't understand how you can so easily understand all of this. I have been racking my brain for hours and lost sleep last night because of it and you came up with this in a few minutes."

"I know you are lost without me."

Asuna finished packing up her books and materials and left the library with Rika. She didn't really learn anything about math but that doesn't mean it wasn't productive. She was going to try to just get closer to Kirito and hope that it works. She has at least until the tournament where they will be together to figure it out.

* * *

Kirito spent his Sunday in game like he usually does. Except for today he was back to being alone, and it didn't feel as good as it used to. He was training through the 67th floor dungeon and was getting bored of it. This had never happened before and he knew the reason was because of the girl that had been standing beside him for the past week.

He took a break and pulled out his old bread he always had on him. "This stuff really does tastes bad." He just stared at the loaf in his hand. It had never really bothered him before. He thought about what Snow Princess said before about doing other things in this game besides tackling dungeons. About other ways to enjoy the game.

He went back to the clearing the dungeon and got all the way up to the 67th floor bosses door without even realizing it. Kirito looked at the door and felt almost no motivation about wanting to go in and conquer it. He decided to just turn around and leave. He told himself he was tired but he knew the real reason why he didn't want to tackle the boss right now. It's because it wouldn't be fun alone.

He went to Agil's shop and sold off his items. He told him that he had cleared all the way up to the boss room already. "Hey Kirito, can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you hold off on beating that boss for a day? I want to use it for a test."

"You want to have the party make a raid on the boss room as a test? I guess I can hold off on it I have no plans on going and beating it today."

"Why are you lonely without your lady friend?"

Kirito looked at the large man that was teasing him from behind the counter. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"What do you think of Snow Princess?"

Agil started smiling and laughing at Kirito. "So that's how it is between you two. I figured as much. Actually the whole game has figured that out besides you two."

"No it's not like that….. Ok maybe it is. It's just that I went into the dungeon today like I always do and today she is busy IRL so she couldn't come with. I have done this alone a million times before, but today it just felt…. Empty."

Agil just laughed at the adventurer. "Of course it would feel like that now. After spending the last week with a beautiful girl you are just lonely. That is natural."

"I guess, but I was just thinking about the game and I was trying to think of other things to do."

"Then try doing something new. Try leveling up a new skill or find a place you would like to visit…. Maybe a nice place to take a cute girl." Agil winked at Kirito with a big smile on his face which embarrassed him to no end.

Kirito couldn't say anything back to him considering he had all but admitted his feelings to the shop owner a few seconds ago. "What should I do though? I have no idea what it is that I would find interesting or fun."

"Try thinking back to why you decided to play SAO in the first place."

Kirito thought about that. He started playing because he felt out of place at school. Around that time he had found out about his sister and mom not really being his sister and mom also. He dove into SAO looking for a place to feel at home. This all reminded him of a place he went a long time ago. "I got it! Thanks for your help!" Kirito shot out the door and didn't look back. Leaving Agil standing in the empty shop.

"Your welcome. I think."

Kirito ran straight to the portal and teleported to the 22nd floor of Aincrad. He didn't stop there. He ran through the town remembering where it was he wanted to go and went over to the woods on the east side of the floor.

He walked through the woods along a boardwalk path that ran along a large lake. On his left side he could see people on the lakeside fishing and on his right he saw animals walking through the woods. Everything here seemed so different from the dungeons he had been in recently. It was always battle after battle but here it was quiet and peaceful and he could remember when he first arrived on this floor. He had sat and enjoyed the view of the sun setting over the lake. That is what he thought felt like a good place to call home.

He walked up to a cabin along the lake that was still uninhabited and pulled up the menu. "Good. I have enough." He placed his hand on the menu putting the purchase through finalizing the sale of his new cabin.

 **A/N: I had wanted to bring the cabin into this story but wasn't really sure how. I felt this was a natural way have it appear.**

 **This chapter ended up being mostly reactions to last chapter and nothing major really happened. The next chapter will have a lot more important content but it will probably be awhile before it will come out so please be patient.**

 **Thank you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I am sorry this took so long to post. I had a lot of finals the last 2 weeks and a research paper to work on. I will be trying to get out a chapter every week now but there are no guarantees. For those of you who are sticking with the story I thank you for your continued support and hope you enjoy the latest chapter.**

Kazuto went to class Monday morning with a lot on his mind. He never thought he would have been one of those guys who always thought about girls, but here he was trying to decide who he truly liked. Was it the girl who he spent his evenings slaying monsters with, or was it the girl his class that ate lunch with him.

When lunch came around he met with Ryoutarou outside by the bench.

"Hey Kazuto. You never told me if you were planning on being in the Battle of the Guilds. We got interrupted by your girlfriend." He gave Kazuto a smirk.

"For the last time she's not my girlfriend. Plus I like someone else… I think." Ryoutarou seemed surprised but that just made him more interested in who Kazuto liked. He had never seen him with another girl (Besides his sister).

"So who is it?"

"I can't tell you that!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's more complicated than just telling you who I like."

"That makes no sense at all."

"I just can't tell you."

"Can't tell him what?" They both turned around to see Asuna and Rika standing behind them smiling. The two boys were fumbling with their words trying to figure out what to say.

"Well…uhh….. you see…" Kazuto looked to Ryoutarou for help. Of course Ryoutarou decided to throw his friend under the bus. Even if Kazuto said he didn't like Asuna he knew something was there. Plus it was fun.

"Kazuto, I forgot about the homework I planned on doing. I am sorry I will be leaving you alone for lunch." He paused for a minute with a devious look on his face. "Maybe you can join these two. They look like they are about to eat lunch." The red head got up and started walking away.

"Of course you can come eat with us." Kazuto's attention was back onto one of the girls he had been thinking about all day. Of course Ryoutarou had heard this and turned around smiling. He gave the boy he just left sitting on the bench a very "subtle" wink.

The two girls sat down on the bench, the same bench that Kazuto and Asuna were sitting on last Friday when everyone saw them together and thought they were dating. Well everyone still thinks they are dating but they are just talking about it less.

"Hi, I am Shinozaki Rika. I don't think we have been formally introduced." The girl with short brown hair next to Asuna stuck out her hand. Of course Kazuto already knew who she was. She was Asuna's best friend. He had seen them together all the time.

"Kirigaya Kazuto, nice to meet you." He shook her hand. This was also the girl that was the blacksmith Liz in Sword Art Online, but not only that but she was on the ground laughing.

What Kazuto did not know was the conversation that the two girls had just been in.

 _10 minutes earlier_

Asuna was walking away from class with Rika when she brought up their conversation from yesterday "What if Kirito is at school it makes me feel awkward. He could be here and I wouldn't even know it!"

"I think you are over reacting. I don't think Kirito is in this school. We went over all of this already."

"But what if! I really like him and I want to know if he is here. My prince charming could be right around the corner and I wouldn't even know it!"

"I think you accepted this rather quickly but calm down, really. The person you like is an online character. He might not even be like he is in real life."

"I will see him after school today. I am going to tell him how I feel."

"I really think you should slow down and think about it first. Just focus on Kirito and staying close to him." The two of them rounded the corner into the courtyard of the school. They planned on eating lunch there when someone caught Asuna's eye.

"I will. Hey there is Kazuto lets go talk to him."

 _Back to the present_

Rika was on the ground laughing. The irony of what was going on made her laugh so much. She put it all together instantly. All the hints clicked after she heard his name. Kirigaya Kazuto or Kirito. They both have a sister, and Kazuto and Kirito both are usually alone and don't hang around a lot of other people. The guy sitting on the bench turned red when Asuna had showed up behind him. Kirigaya Kazuto obviously had a crush on Asuna just like Kirito, because he was Kirito! The best part was that Asuna's prince charming really was right around the corner, and she had no idea.

Rika couldn't stop laughing and the other two had no idea what was going on.

"Hey, is she ok? Or is she always like this."

"No, she normally quiet and reserved. This is definitely new."

The two slowly backed away from the girl who wouldn't stop laughing. Unfortunately the noise from her laughter attracted a bit of attention. Asuna and Kazuto turned around to leave Rika alone and saw what they had seen the other day. Everyone was looking out the windows of the cafeteria at them.

"There is no convincing them that we aren't dating now is there?" Kazuto was resigning himself to his fate of stares and questioning from everyone. The two decided to stick with it and sat back down. Rika finally recovered from her fit of laughter but refused to tell the two love birds what it was about. The three of them ate lunch and went back to class.

After school was over they both logged on to SAO and went to their agreed meeting place on floor 50. When Kirito and Snow Princess met up in game Kirito asked her to come see something. She was confused, but went along with him when he teleported down to the 22nd floor. She followed him through the woods.

'Wow this place is beautiful. Why is he taking me here? We have only gone to the higher floors to work on leveling up. Is this…..a d-d-d….date!' This was the point when her cheeks became fluorescent during their walk together on the boardwalk. They walked up toward the cabin that Kirito had bought the day before.

"I bought this cabin yesterday. What do you think?"

"It looks amazing!" 'This is beautiful. Why did he want to show me though? What should I do?'

"I will give you the tour." He grabbed her hand and dragged her into the kitchen. "This is the kitchen, it's so huge! It is bigger than my whole apartment."

Snow Princess didn't even pay attention as he kept dragging her around the cabin showing her all of the rooms (even the bedroom which made her feel a little awkward). She couldn't tell you anything he said about any of the rooms. All that was in her head was the fact that he was smiling so much when talking about it. Really smiling. He would always smile when they fought together and talked but never like this. Also she was pretty sure she was as red as a tomato because he was still holding her hand. She even kept looking down to make sure.

At the end of the tour Kirito turned toward the girl that he was dragging around "What do you think?!" He so was nervous with her around. Ever since he realized what she meant to him he wanted to keep her around.

"It's beautiful! I love the feel of it. It has a welcoming feel to it. Did you get it yesterday?"

"Yeah I was bored since you weren't here and I remembered being how much I liked the woods when I was on floor 22 and I had some extra money." He noticed her face turned bright red. He had no idea what was going on, but inside Asuna's head all she could think about was what he just said. It was tantamount to him saying he missed her. Which is true.

They stood in silence for a while. Both of them were acting awkward and nervous. A noticeable beep broke the silence between them. They both noticed they had a message from Agil. It was a notice for a meeting at 6pm today.

Snow Princess looked at the time "We still have more than an hour to kill…. That's not enough time to go into the dungeon…. I got an idea how about I break in your kitchen and cook something tasty to eat!" She tried to come up with a reason to keep them alone and talking.

A sudden realization came to Kirito "Last week while I was in a dungeon I actually found something." Snow Princess gave him a confused look as Kirito pulled up his item menu and clicked on something. He showed his menu to her and she squealed in surprise.

"AAHHHHHHH!... Is that the S-class ingredient Ragout Rabbit?!" She was justifiably surprised since this is such a rare drop that no one had even heard of someone finding it.

"I have had it all this time since my cooking is low, but you have high cooking level don't you?"

She lost the shocked look that had been plastered on her face and gave him a smile of pride "I am almost maxed out on my cooking level. I would love to cook this up!"

She ended up taking the ingredient with things she had in her inventory to make a stew. She was so excited to try it but what kept going through her mind while she cooked the food for Kirito was that she felt like a housewife. She kept stealing glances at the boy who was waiting for her to finish. Each time increasing her embarrassment as they locked eyes. What she didn't realize was that Kirito was thinking the same thing.

The food was ready fairly quickly. It doesn't take as long to make food as it would IRL since the system helps with most of it. That didn't change the fact that it was one of the most delicious things that either of them tasted.

"Your cooking is always the best. It's even better than my sisters!... Don't tell her I said that."

Snow Princess broke into a fit of laughter. "It's mostly the system… Although I am a pretty good cook in real life. I make all of my lunches for school too."

"Either way it's better than mine. I could eat your cooking forever!" After realizing what he just said he didn't need to feel the heat rising to his face to know that his face resembled a ripe apple. Luckily he wasn't the only apple in the room as Snow Princess's face matched his.

She remembered her earlier thoughts about feeling like a housewife cooking for Kirito and it made her smile. She was able to get a quiet mumble out "I wouldn't mind that."

5 minutes of awkward silence finally ended after Kirito noticed the clock behind Snow Princess. It was 5:50. "We are going to be late!" He jumped up and grabbed her hand and ran out the door.

Snow Princess didn't care that she was going to be late. All she cared about was the boy holding her hand, the one that said he loved her cooking, the one that said he wish he could eat it forever, and he even missed her after only one day apart. Could he feel the same way as her?

They made it to the meeting about 5 minutes late so when they burst through the door everyone turned and stared at the two legends of SAO, known throughout the whole game… holding hands.

Agil just smiled at them "Now that the two love birds are here let's get started. There are two chairs over there for you." The two of them turned crimson and dropped each other's hands immediately. They walked over to their seats which of course was between Klein and Liz.

Both of the players received winks from their respective best friends as they sat down. Klein leaned over and whispered in Kirito's ear "Nice snag! I knew you could do it."

"No! It's… not.." He gave up trying to correct the idiot next to him.

On the other side it was going just as well. "I swear nothing is going on! I was just at his house and we were eating dinner and we lost track of time…"

"You were at his house? He invited you into his house and you were alone? Then you cooked him dinner? That means there is nothing going on? To me it sounds like you are already his wife!" She gave her friend a knowing smile.

"Well he had Ragout Rabbit…."

"Ragout Rabbit! So it was a fancy, delicious, and romantic dinner? How did it taste?"

"…. I give up."

The two sitting next to each other had both given up due to the emotional exhaustion they had gone through they were not ready for the badgering of their friends considering they didn't really know where they were at this point there was no way they could tell their friends.

Everyone focused on what they were actually there for. Agil began speaking "Hello everyone. The reason why I have brought you here today is to do a test run to working as a group. Kirito has cleared all the way up to the 67th floor boss which we are going to tackle as a group."

Everyone began talking to the ones next to them. Considering most of these people weren't even past level 57. This would not only be tough for them but the reward was incredible. They would be able to have access to 10 more levels of the game.

"We will party with Snow Princess and Kirito who are clear to that level and travel up to the boss's door. We will break into parties for the raid and then use the strategies we have been practicing. This will be the last test of teamwork and skill. We will spend the rest of the week gearing up for the tournament on Saturday. If there are no more questions let's move out."

Everyone got up to leave and head out the door. As Kirito was walking out to catch up to Snow Princess who had already left someone came up behind him and whispered in his ear. "If you hurt her I will kill you ….. _Kazuto"_

He turned around to see the pink haired blacksmith behind him.

 **A/N: Things are getting interesting now that Liz knows. Hopefully I will have a new chapter out soon so we all can find out what happens next. Thanks again for your support.**


	8. Chapter 8

To say Kirito was surprised by Liz using his real name would be a huge understatement. His jaw had hit the floor and was frozen in place while Liz had a satisfied grin.

"In case you were wondering I was talking about Snow Princess. I know you like going around and holding all the girls hands so I thought I would clarify."

She was still acting smug with the knowledge she had gained over him. She was enjoying it thoroughly. Kirito was finally starting to respond.

"How did you figure it out _Rika_?" He emphasized her name to make sure she knew that he knew who she was. But that really wasn't a secret considering everyone in their class knew since this was for their whole class. She still had the smile plastered all over her face. (SAO isn't very good at hiding the emotions of the player. They use the emotion felt by the user and show it.)

"Well, you used parts of your name as your user name. When I heard it out loud earlier I fell on the ground laughing. Don't you remember?"

He definitely remembered the embarrassment from everyone staring at them that afternoon.

"Not only that but Snow Princess talks about you and I realized that you and Kirito had a lot in common plus…" This elicited the biggest smirk yet. "She may have mentioned you had a crush on someone named Asuna."

That was when the apple that Kirito recently impersonated reappeared. His mind was racing. How could he have let that slip! "You didn't tell her did you?!"

"Nope. But don't you like Snow Princess? Everyone has noticed how you two are together all the time." Of course since Liz knew that they were the same person but she really enjoyed watching the boy squirm.

"Good." Kirito relaxed a little knowing that Asuna didn't know. "And I don't know. She is amazing I really like her, but I don't know her. She could be anyone anywhere….. Ugh the truth is I like them both!"

Liz was surprised that Kirito had just admitted to his feelings so easily. She was happy that he liked both sides of her best friend, but she would also be lying if she didn't say she wasn't enjoying watching him freak out a little as payback for how conflicted her friend had been because of him.

"Well you should figure out what to do. You can't have them both!"

She waltzed away laughing to herself. She was enjoying this way too much. But she really was happy. And she was nowhere near done. After all she has only messed with one half of the pair. She will leave the rest of the teasing for her partner in crime.

* * *

 _10 minutes before the meeting_

The pink haired girl had plans after finding out a certain secret earlier and she wanted help so of course she singled out the only person that was friends with the boy in question. She walked up to the red haired samurai.

"Can I ask for your help _Ryoutarou?"_ It was just an educated guess, but she went for the gamble, and by the wide eyes and the mouth agape she was right. She grabbed his arm and tugged him to the side.

She explained everything to him. That this was a group from the same school as him and who she was. She even told him who Snow Princess was and to top it all off she told him who Kirito was and Klein was really surprised by all the new information. But more than that he was excited, and a little confused.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we are going to get them together. But the rule is we can't tell them who they are. We want them to tell each other."

Klein being a romantic of course agreed to this and was eager to help out his friend. Plus he wanted to get a small amount of payback for Kazuto keeping him in the dark about the fact that he was Kirito!

What they didn't expect was to right after making this plan the two love birds would burst through the door holding hands.

"This is going to be easier than I thought." The pink haired girl muttered to herself looking at the two that had walked in.

* * *

 _Back to present_

"Kirito! Hey buddy! What were you and Snow Princess up to before the meeting?"

"Nothing." Kirito was still a little shocked by the fact that Liz, no Rika knows who he is so he really isn't paying attention to the conversation.

"Sure there was nothing going on." He smirked at the idiot spacing out next to him. "You remind me of a friend from school." This got Kirito's attention and just like Liz, Klein was enjoying messing with the boy a little too much. "He likes this girl at school and they always ends up running into a room holding each others hand. It's really funny actually. Everyone in school seems to think they are dating" Klein is not exactly known for his subtlety

Kirito is surprised by the sudden change of topic to him. Also the information that everyone thought they were dating was only a confirmation of his fears. "Sounds like a lame guy." He was a little embarrassed by his own actions.

"No, he's pretty cool. He helped me and my friends out a while ago. He even got dragged into a fight that had nothing to do with him and got suspended because of it. He never even complained about it once." Klein had accidentally ended up using the opportunity to make fun of him and used it to say the things he was never able to tell Kazuto to his face. Being in game made it easier.

Kirito felt awkward. All this talk about himself when Klein didn't know that he was really talking to him. Or so he thought. They spent the rest of the time on the way to the boss room in silence. Kirito spent it spacing out and staring at the back of the girl that was a little ways in front of him. Snow Princess was talking with Liz about 30 feet ahead of the two guys. He was a bit worried about what Liz was telling her.

* * *

Liz of course was pestering her friend about the boy that was looking at them.

"So when are you going to ask him out? Didn't you say you were going to tell him your feelings? Over dinner would have been a great time." Of course a pink Snow Princess wasn't visible to their watcher but it was clearly visible to the blacksmith.

"I know! I am just too scared. I think I want to wait a little longer till I know he has feelings for me."

"Well if you are too scared to tell him what about the boy at school? You have feelings for him don't you?" Her plan was to get her best friend to not only have the courage to tell Kirito her feelings, but also notice the boy next to her at school that was Kirito.

"Kazuto?"

"He seems nice. Plus he is the other guy you end up holding hands with all the time." She gave a knowing smile to her friend.

"It isn't like that, we are friends." Her words were not a very convincing denial of her feelings.

Liz never replied she had gotten what she wanted. The first step was to get her to acknowledge that she had feelings for the boy in their class.

* * *

The group arrived at the portal and formed a party with Kirito and Snow Princess. They stepped through the portal and traveled up to the 67th floor. The group made it safely to the door that Kirito had found last time. Everyone in the group was in awe of the strength of the monsters they fought. It was nowhere near what they were used to. They had to fight in coordinated groups to reach the boss room which helped them practice the techniques.

When the large door opened a large scorpion was revealed standing on the other side of the room. 4 health bars appeared on the player's screens and the boss was labeled as the Scorpion King. Its tail reached more than 20 feet in the air and the monster was around 35 feet long.

"Get into your groups!" Agil commanded the groups into their respective groups. There were 6 groups of 6 players each. The groups were labeled A-F and Kirito, Snow Princess, Klein, and the three with Klein were in group F.

Because of the claws and stinger it had many ways to attack the groups. This was a lot tougher than a boss that wielded only one weapon as this one had 3.

"Groups A and B cover the claws. Groups C and D focus on the Stinger and groups E and F flank them." Agil barked out orders to the group and everyone followed every command.

The groups spread out and surrounded the boss. Agil was in group A and they took blow after blow of the claws. The damage from the attacks was severe and they had to keep switching out to heal themselves. Groups C and D had several causalities as the stinger dealt powerful and strong attacks. Also, if one of the players only got a scratch they got a severe poison buff. If it wasn't dealt with right away they would have been died in less than half a minute.

Groups E and F dealt the damage against the scorpion. Kirito and Asuna held back since this was training for everyone else and they could have taken care of the boss all by themselves. Of course Kirito was using only one sword to keep his dual wielding a secret. The sword he asked Liz to make him since he didn't want to raise suspicion on why he wasn't using his new sword.

When the final health bar reached red everyone attacked the scorpion trying to finish it off, and of course get the last attack bonus on a boss that is 10 levels higher than any of them have ever seen. Unfortunately for them they are playing with a greedy solo player who happens to be very strong. Kirito used a powerful sword skill to finish off the boss. He got the last attack bonus. No one was particularly upset since the rest of the loot was split evenly. They couldn't complain since Kirito could have fought the boss by himself.

Everyone sat down and rested after the exhaustive battle. It took more than 45 minutes of constant attacking and switching to defeat the boss which took a lot out of the players, even if it was a virtual world. Well, all of them except two.

Kirito and Snow Princess were talking like nothing had even happened.

"You just had to go and get the last attack bonus didn't you? I didn't think you were so greedy."

"Of course I am. I am a gamer. All gamers are greedy and want the best loot." The banter between the two of them kept up for some time unaware of the tired gazes of all those around them especially the gaze of a pink haired blacksmith and a red haired samurai.

"Maybe I won't have to do anything." The blacksmith mumbled to herself with a smile on her face.

"Listen up everyone!" Agil was up in front of everyone. He waited till he had everyone's attention before he continued. It was probably the teacher in him. "That was a good attack. We were able to work together to defeat a boss much stronger than anyone has faced. We did well and worked great as a team. We suffered 3 casualties, but considering what we were up against is the toughest monster anyone has faced in the whole game that was definitely a success. Spend the rest of the week leveling up and getting your armor and equipment better and we will meet up before the tournament to go over everything." Everyone teleported away and left. Kirito and Snow Princess were the only ones with enough energy left that wanted to go check out the 68th level.

The two of them went up the stairs and found a lush forest world. It was like a labyrinth of paths that wound through the forest. It would be easy to get lost in the forest. The two walked through the dark for more than an hour before they found the village. The problem was the type of monsters that kept getting in their way on this level. They aren't very powerful or fast but they come in hordes. They were zombies.

"Ewe! I hate zombies!"

"The great Snow Princess is creeped out by the undead?" He was immensely enjoying mocking her during their trip after being attacked by several hordes of the undead.

"Shut up!"

Kirito and Snow Princess walked through the town which looked more like a ghost town than anything. They stopped and ate food that Snow Princess had packed. Kirito was glad to be out on the top floor with Snow Princess again. He had really missed the bantering they had.

After they ate they activated the portal and went back to floor 50.

"Well I am going to head back to my apartment."

"Alright see you tomorrow!" Snow Princess was fidgeting a little and made no move to go in. She remembered what she wanted to say to the boy she had a crush on but was having trouble finding the courage to tell him her feelings. "Are you ok?"

"Yes it's just….. never mind." She ran into her apartment and logged out. She was too much of a chicken to say her feelings to him.

She left a confused Kirito who was hoping that the girl was about to confess her feelings. More hoping she had those feelings for him. He went back to his house on floor 22 and logged out.

Kazuto got up out of his bed after taking off the nerve gear.

"There is always tomorrow."

 **A/N: Well its still going well. Also since its pretty fun writing this story I was thinking of continuing on with the story after this is over. Maybe continuing on into ALO and GGO as sequels to this story. Just wondering what you guys thought about that.**

 **MakkuroX: My explanation would be that Kazuto is like every other anime lead in the fact he is completely oblivious of everything around him. Also he has it in his head that Asuna stated she didn't play SAO during class so that could be a reason he doesn't connect the dots.**

 **Thanks for all your support!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: This ended up being a much shorter chapter than the others but its more of a prologue into part 2 of the story arc. I hope you enjoy it and I will continue to update as often as I can.**

Kazuto arrived at school the next day still thinking about last night. About Snow Princess and whether she liked him. Unfortunately he didn't pay attention to where he was walking and ran into the 3 upper classmen who had been constantly bullying him.

"Why looked what the cat dragged in." The sinister smile was the same across all three. They were definitely up to no good.

It looked like they were about to pounce when the most unexpected thing happened. "Hey Kazuto what's up?" All three simultaneously slinked away. Even though they were bullies they weren't going to cause trouble surrounding Asuna Yuuki.

Kazuto wasn't happy with the situation involving those three but at least it was put on the back burner for now.

"Hi Asuna, How have you been?"

"How have I been? What was that about?" She was clearly irritated at how Kazuto had brushed off the danger he was in.

"Nothing really." He had no intention of getting this girl involved with the bullies. It was the reason he had originally cut ties with people at this school in the first place.

"Aren't those the guys you fought when you got suspended just last week?"

"Well….. I guess." He was not good at lying or hiding anything.

"Just be careful." She walked away more annoyed with the boy and his unwillingness to accept help than the actual situation.

Class went by normally but Kazuto noticed that Asuna kept turning around and looking at him. She was obviously concerned about what had happened before class. He tried to smile at her but that ended up making it more obvious that it was bothering him.

The rest of the class was buzzing about the huge feat that they had completed yesterday and were forming groups on exploring the new levels they had all unlocked in SAO. They all had plans to work on teamwork in their party groups and raise their levels for the event that was coming up. It was already Wednesday which meant that everyone only had 3 days in game before the tournament.

It was amazing that the students actually learned anything in this class since everything was always about SAO. Kazuto left the class when the lunch bell rang and found his usual spot. Of course a certain red headed upper classman met him there. This had become regular for them.

What Kazuto didn't know was that this was planned between the two best friends of the future couple. Rika was at this moment making sure Asuna avoided this area so Ryoutarou could figure out more about what Kazuto thought without being interrupted by the girls.

Ryoutarou didn't know that right now Asuna was on a rant about how boys are stupid and never ask for help.

Ryoutarou started talking to Kazuto about the competition.

"It was amazing! We fought the boss in a huge battle. It was the most powerful thing I have ever seen! The best part was that I was fighting with both Snow Princess and Kirito though."

Kazuto was still ignorant of his friend's knowledge and begrudgingly went along with the conversation.

"Oh really? Did you figure out if they were dating yet?" Kazuto was a little amused teasing his friend on this subject.

"Not yet. But they will soon." This got Kazuto's attention.

"What do you mean?" Kazuto was hoping his friend saw something that he didn't. He did want something to happen between them and remembering what happened when they parted ways last night made him hopeful.

"Well the two of them were almost inseparable. During the fight and even after they were together. She even spent the day at his house apparently."

Kazuto was trying to figure out how that got out. His mind went straight to a certain pink haired blacksmith that decided to make him her new play thing. She probably spreading rumors and other things she heard from Snow Princess.

'If she figured out who I am maybe she figure out who Klein is and is messing with me.'

"Well, that is all up to them. How is your group for the Battle of the Guilds doing?" His plan was definitely to try to switch subjects which his friend noticed. It was very obvious.

"That's right! You still haven't decided whether or not you are on a team." He turned it back around on Kazuto.

"No I am not."

"You said you were in The Army right? Don't they have a team?"

"I am not a high enough level to make it."

"Well I guess I shouldn't talk too much about my team since you could give away information to your guild. So, how about we talk about Asuna?"

That was when all the milk in Kazuto's mouth ended up all over the ground in a classic spit take. It was subject after subject he wished to avoid. His whole life had become a minefield he wants to avoid. Luckily the bell for lunch rang. They went to class while Kazuto was able to avoid any further conversation about his confusing feelings.

When he left school he was walking home but noticed the bullies from earlier that day had been following him. He ran as fast as he could to try to get away from them. While trying to get away all he could think about was the conversation with Asuna in the morning. He thought about how angry she would be with him.

Unfortunately for him he ran around a corner to get away and ended up with a dead end. He turned around and looked at the three bullies that had plagued him since he started at high school. They had him, there was nowhere to go. One of them punched Kazuto in the gut and caused him to keel over on the ground then the last thing he remembered was the guy in the middle smiling a chilling smile.

"It's show time."

Then blackness.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Made it to the double digits. Chapter 10 is done. I hope you enjoy the latest installment**

Kazuto woke up in the alley. He checked his watch and he had only been out for a few minutes. No one else was there. He tried getting up but couldn't. His body hurt too much. He went through the checklist in his mind. No broken bones. Just a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing too bad.

He wasn't going to be able to get home on his own so he pulled out his phone to call somebody. His mom was at work so she wouldn't be able to answer. His sister had Kendo so her phone would be in the locker room. Ryoutarou lived in the opposite direction of where he was. That left only one person he could call and he dreaded the "I told you so" that would come with it.

* * *

Asuna was walking down the street with a group of friends who were talking about something, she wasn't really paying attention. Her mind was on a certain virtual boy she knew. When her phone rang it broke her out of her daze and she answered it.

It didn't take her long to rush off to where Kazuto told her he was. She was only 2 blocks away and when she got there she saw the sad sight of the boy sitting on the ground. He had a bloody lip and a few noticeable bruises.

"What happened?" The worry was noticeable in her voice. She knew what happened. She knew that the three guys from earlier are what happened here.

Of course he provided the obvious answer. "Nothing." Of course Kazuto wasn't going to get her involved he just needed help going home.

"Fine. Let's get you home." She walked over and helped him up. He wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders and the two preceded to limp to his house.

"When are you going to say I told you so?"

"I thought it was implied with the sorry state you are in." She flashed a smile of sympathy toward the boy limping next to her.

The rest of the walk to Kazuto's house was completely silent between the two of them. One was horribly embarrassed after asking for help from one of the girls he has a crush on. Especially after she had warned him.

Asuna was to busy trying to decide if she was more worried or if she was angry at the idiot to notice the embarrassment.

They made it to Kazuto's house and luckily for him no one was home yet. He would have an hour until Suguha got home and longer than that for his mother.

Asuna led him to his couch in the living room and helped him sit down. After he was down on the couch she took off her bag and jacket. "Where do you keep your first aid kit?"

Kazuto was flustered by this "Look, you don't need to do that I am fine. You've already done plenty."

"I am not stupid enough to ask you to go to the hospital since I know how stubborn you are, but I am not going to just leave you alone like this. I will stay here until someone else gets back." He could tell she was just as stubborn on her stance as he was, and there was nothing he could do to make her leave so he gave in.

"It's in the closet in the hall." She disappeared down the hall. She came back a few seconds later with the small first aid kit they kept and she tended to his wounds. She cleaned and disinfected the cut on his lip and the scraps he got from falling to the asphalt. She finished with bandaging up some of the scrapes. There wasn't much she could do about the bruises though.

"What about dinner? What do you have that I can make?" She wanted to do something else to help.

"Seriously you don't have to make anything. You have done plenty. This is my fault any way. My sister always cooks dinner when she gets home so you don't need to do anything."

"Yes it is your fault, because you are an idiot. Now what do you want to eat for dinner?" She looked at him while tying an apron around her waist that she had found hanging on the hook in the kitchen. She might have been more stubborn than he was.

* * *

Suguha finished her kendo class and walked home. She thought about what to do with Kazuto for the night. He would probably just be playing video games which is why she tried so hard to get into them. She even tested out SAO for a while but it didn't really fit since everyone was already a high level it. She wouldn't be able to catch up after starting too late. She had found another game that she started recently that isn't level based. She was able to start well right off the bat thanks to her kendo skills. She had been playing that whenever her brother was busy, which was most of the time.

She arrived home. "Big Brother what's….." She wasn't stopped by anything in particular but many things at once.

There was the extra pair of women's shoes by the door. There were two backpacks by the door. Also the first aid kit was open on the coffee table, but the most suspicious thing she noticed was the smell. It smelled of delicious fried rice and fish. But Kazuto doesn't know how to cook, which is why Suguha always cooked.

What was going on?

She followed her nose into the kitchen where Kazuto and the girl from school who she always saw talking to her big brother, were there eating together at the dinning room table. The girl was angry about something, but that isn't what caught her attention. Her brother was covered in bandages and bruises.

"What happened!?"

Kazuto turned around and saw his sister in the kitchen. He paled at trying to explain the situation to her. He was trying to find his words when Asuna stood up from the table and brought her dishes to the sink. She turned to Suguha "Pardon my intrusion but I should be going now that there is someone here to take care of this idiot." She sent a scary smile and glare toward Kazuto.

There was no way he could stand up against both of these girls. They were a force to be reckoned with.

Asuna left the house to head home but Suguha didn't move until she got an explanation. So Kazuto told everything about what happened. How the upper classmen targeted him and he got cornered in the alley and beaten up.

"What is wrong with you? Why do you keep getting wrapped up in fights? You are supposed to be the quiet nerdy guy at school. Are you really a delinquent?"

There was a silence between the two for a minute before they broke out laughing. Laughing did hurt Kazuto since he was bruised on his torso.

"Asuna made extra food for you so there is still some left. It's really tasty."

"She did?" She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plate and dished up the rest of the food that was left. "So now you have girls coming over and making food for you? You really use misfortune to your advantage." Suguha gave a knowing smile to her big brother.

"It was nothing like that! She didn't want to leave me alone after what happened so she said she would wait until someone got home." He was trying to plead his case to her.

"Big brother has a beautiful girl who worries about him? How cute. What do you think would Snow Princess say about this?" He paled remembering what had happened between them just yesterday.

Suguha spent the rest of the time while eating her food (which was way better than her cooking but she would never admit that) teasing Kazuto about the girls in his life. Unfortunately he couldn't leave because it hurt too much to get up and walk so he had to sit and endure it and wait until Suguha was ready to help him to his room.

* * *

Asuna arrived at the library where she was supposed to study with Rika but was really late due to the afternoon's events. She had ran there and was forced to explain why she was late, but after she got passed the fact that Kazuto got beat up by a group of upper classmen Rika was laughing at what happened.

"What are the chances of that happening? It's like Déjà vu."

"What are you talking about Rika?"

"The reason you were late to study with me was because you were at Kazuto's house cooking dinner for him…. It's exactly what happened yesterday with Kirito." Rika was laughing at the irony of this happening in game and IRL between the two same people two days in a row.

"It wasn't like that! He needed help. He was really hurt."

"I understand that but you seem really worried. More worried than you should be about a guy you just became friends with last week." She paused for a minute "Are you saying that it was just to help him? Then what is your excuse for cooking for Kirito?" She was having so much fun with teasing her best friend. She couldn't believe how fast everything was progressing between the lovely couple. She didn't have to do anything at all.

"Well, he is nice. He's just stubborn and annoying class mate nothing else." Asuna was in denial trying to come up with excuses. Too bad the light blush on her face betrayed her. Asuna found the boy to be interesting but nothing more. At least that's what she thought.

They spent the rest of the night studying together with the teasing continuing and neither of them really got anywhere.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: This chapter took me a really long time and I am sorry about that. I have had some long work weeks and have just been busy. I apologize for the large wait and hope that you still enjoy the story. While writing this chapter it was a little hasty so if there are any mistakes I apologize.**

 **Thanks for all your support and hope you stick through to the end as the story is going into the finale and there will only be a few chapters left.**

Kazuto didn't go to school the next day due to his injuries. He ended up calling school and telling them he was sick. He just really didn't feel like battling the pain.

Of course when you are at home and injured with nothing to do, you spend it in an online virtual world.

Kirito was prowling the upper levels most of the day. What he did not expect was to run into someone while on floor 68. The only people able to get to this floor should all be in school. But when a tall player with a cross like shield and grey hair was wandering around the town on floor 68 it got his attention. He didn't think anyone was as far as him.

"Hey!" He shouted at the suspicious stranger in the town and the man was startled.

He gained his composure almost immediately. "I didn't think anyone would ever be able to catch up to me. I should have expected as much from the legendary Kirito though."

"Who are you? I thought nobody was higher than me."

"I am Heathcliff and you only thought no one was at a higher level because you were never able to catch up." Superiority was oozing off of this new guy. "As the first person to catch up to me would you like to have a duel to see who is stronger?"

Now Kirito wasn't one to duel often. Mostly because he was never around players. He had heard duels were common but it had been a long time since he had partaken in one. But this guy intrigued Kirito. A high level player that is possibly better than him and he had never even heard of him. How could Kirito pass this chance up?

"I am in."

They set up a duel to half health. First one to hit yellow loses the match.

The two of them too their stances across from each other. Heathcliff took out his sword and shield. His stance looked like he was an impenetrable wall of steel. Kirito felt there would be no way to get through that wall. And he was right. Kirito couldn't get past the shield he hit it countless times. He tried repeatedly but all he did was get stopped.

That was not the oddest thing about the match though. What Kirito couldn't understand was why Heathcliff wasn't fighting back. All he did was block all the attacks that Kirito through at him, and he did it all with a smirk on his face.

The two jumped back from each other after a particularly intense exchange of blows.

"Why don't you attack back?" Kirito was frustrated with how lightly he was being taken during the match.

"I will attack when you attack me seriously."

"I was fighting seriously!" He was now visibly angry.

"No you are not. You are not even using your second sword." Kirito backed up from Heathcliff. How could he know something like that? "Just an observation. For being on level 68 I thought you should have been stronger. Then I noticed you only used one handed sword attacks and you don't use a shield. But all of your stances allow for the use of a second sword. It was an educated guess but I seem to be correct based on your reaction. Since your secret is out could you please test your full strength on me?"

Kirito pulled out his second sword. The one that Liz had forged for him last week. He got ready in his stance and attacked. His attacks were faster and more intense and came from all directions and Heathcliff was having a much more difficult time keeping Kirito at bay now that twice the attacks were coming at him, but he still was keeping him back.

Kirito noticed one small thing during Heathcliff's defenses and attacks. He was able to predict almost every skill, but he had issues with the attacks that were not a part of a skill.

Kirito started using regular attacks without skills and was finally pushing the new guy back.

He found an opening to deal a decisive blow and he went for it but then suddenly Heathcliff's shield moved about twice the speed as before and blocked the attack which had a stun effect on Kirito and it decided the battle.

Kirito was on the ground after suffering his first loss.

Heathcliff left without a word. The smile was gone off his face even though he had won the fight. After the mysterious fighter had left Kirito gathered his thoughts and got up. He kept replaying that fight over and over in his mind for the rest of the day while fighting in the dungeon. Every move that each made. It just didn't make sense. He was too good and too knowledgeable about everything. Not that Kirito was trying to be too conceited and thinking that no one could beat him. That fight just didn't make sense to him.

* * *

He was lost in thought when someone suddenly came up behind him. "Kirito don't you answer any of your messages? I have been in here looking for you for an hour."

Snow Princess had snuck up behind him. "Sorry I was occupied."

"Did you hear about the tournament set up?"

"No. Did the brackets get announced?"

"Yes the first round is tomorrow. They split all the teams into different brackets based on the average floor level cleared. Since our group just defeated the 67th floor boss together we are now ranked number 1. There are only going to be 8 teams in the bracket that have a team average of higher than floor 50."

"That makes sense. It wouldn't be fair to have high level teams fighting people on level 10. But now since our training put a giant target on our back."

Snow Princess couldn't deny that he was right. There was a large target on their back. "Not only that but we have the great solo player Kirito and also the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath Snow Princess." She only added more reasons why they would be targeted. "On the bright side the tournament is set up so that in the first round 1st ranked fights 8th. That means we have an easier match right away."

"At least there is that." Kirito's mind was still elsewhere. This mysterious Heathcliff was still dominating his thoughts.

"From the stats I saw the 8 teams we will be facing are 8th ranked: The Army, 7th ranked: Titans Hand, 6th ranked: Golden Apple, 5th ranked: Silver Flags, 4th ranked: Dragon Alliance, 3rd ranked: Laughing Coffin, 2nd ranked: Knights of the Blood Oath."

Kirito took in all the information but the last team surprised him. "Knights of the Blood Oath? I thought that your guild wasn't going to have a team which is why you joined ours?"

"That is true, but apparently after they heard I joined a team they hoped to test themselves against me and formed their own team." She didn't seem too excited about going up against her own guild.

"So our first team is against The Army. They may be the lowest ranked in the bracket but they definitely have the most organized and experience in team work." The Army was one of the first guilds created and has been around for a long time. The top players in that guild have a lot of experience fighting together in groups.

But with all this information Kirito was not really worried about the Army. What he was thinking about was the number 3 ranked team. Laughing Coffin. Of course he had heard of them, but Kirito had not had a run in with the well-known player killer guild.

They have experience with violently killing other players and are high level fighters. Their fighting style and brutality will probably be the toughest challenge in the tournament.

"Well then, let's get back to training and getting stronger for the upcoming battles."

They trained in the dungeon for an hour. It wasn't that late but Snow Princess was done. "I am going to log out. I want to go check on a friend."

"Oh? Is something wrong?"

"No not really. He was just home sick today and I want to check on him." She was acting a little strange but that wasn't what was worrying Kirito.

"Oh is it your boyfriend's?" He was feeling a little jealous, and maybe a bit insecure. Kirito really cared about this girl even if he didn't know who she was.

"Oh?" A smile crept up across her face. "Is someone jealous?"

Now, of course when in game it is almost impossible to hide emotions, and the red tinge of embarrassment was plastered all over her face. It made Snow Princess giggle.

Then the one thing that caught Kirito completely off guard. Snow Princess moved faster than he ever knew she could.

She was in front of him and grabbed him "You don't need to worry." Then her lips met his.

For Kirito it was complete bliss when the beautiful girl he had been pinning for had made her move on him. By the time he opened his eyes she was gone. He didn't even realize that the kiss had ended.

* * *

Snow Princess was sprinting back to her apartment. "Oh. My. God. Why did I do that! I am an idiot! He is going to hate me. Or think I am crazy." She hurried back to her apartment and sat there staring at the wall trying to figure out what to do. Or what even happened. "This is going to take a lot longer to think through. I will just go visit Kazuto as planned." She logged out and then got a few things ready and left her house for his.

* * *

Kazuto logged out of the game right after. He couldn't concentrate on monsters after that kiss. He went down stairs wondering where dinner was. He remembered that it was still early and Suguha was still at kendo practice. That was when the doorbell rang.

He wandered over to the door still limping from the soreness from yesterday's injuries. Kazuto was not prepared for what awaited him at the door.

It was Asuna. The other girl that Kazuto had a crush on and he just finished kissing the other. He didn't think there was any way to screw up his thinking more than the kiss he just had but throwing this girl in the mix could definitely do it.

"I brought you some food since you can't cook."

"Thanks Asuna, You didn't have to." She stood there glaring at him.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Yes come in." The two of them walked to the table. Asuna took out the food she had brought.

"I also brought the homework you missed for the day. If you want you can look at my notes for the day for help….. Also there may be a few more rumors about us dating…."

"What do you mean?"

"Well when Agil asked if anyone in the class could take their homework to you I may have mentioned I knew where you live… Everyone in the class stared at me." Kazuto face palmed. With this many coincidences there was no way he was going to be able to explain his way out of it.

Then there was Snow Princess of course. Was she even real though? Was what he had with Snow Princess real or just a video game.

After going over the notes which Kazuto didn't really pay attention anyway Asuna got up to leave. She turned around. "Well I had fun. Even if I was just checking up on my idiot friend who was home 'sick' from school. Stay away from bullies now ok?"

She left the house and went home to continue to figure out what she was going to do about Kirito.

Kazuto spent the whole night in a daze thinking about the princess that had kissed him.

The tournament starts tomorrow and that will be the next time the two see each other.

Tomorrow will be a big day.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Sorry about the wait for the new chapter. My summer has been busier than expected and I hope you all can be patient with me. I will continue and finish the story. Again I hope you enjoy everything and stay till the end of the story and maybe beyond as I continue into an ALO arc that I plan on working on once this story is over.**

It was Friday and the classroom was filled with chatter about the big fight they had that night vs The Army. Everyone spent the whole day amped up and talking about their new weapons, the new levels they had ventured on, or anything else that had happened over the last few days. That is except for two people in the class.

Both Kazuto and Asuna were staring off in the distance not paying attention to the class or anything else going on around them. Both were thinking about the kiss and what it meant. Kazuto excited over the idea about Snow Princess liking him. While Asuna was freaking out over the fact that she had kissed Kirito and she was worried about whether he felt the same way.

Of course both of them wondered one important question. If the both of them like each other what does that mean?

They both ran to their friends for help.

Kazuto sat down at the table with Ryoutarou for lunch and had quite a shocking surprise for his friend. "There is something I need to talk to you about."

"Oh really what is that?" Ryoutarou

"Well it's about a girl but before I can tell you about her there is something else you need to know." Ryoutarou was interested now. "I am Kirito."

The red head was surprised, obviously not because he found out his friend was Kirito but because he told him so easily. He tried to act like he didn't know. "Really?" It worked mostly because of the fact Kazuto was focused on other things because Ryoutarou's acting skills are about the same level as Kazuto's observation skills.

"Yeah and Snow Princess kissed me yesterday and I don't know what to do." Ryoutarou was going crazy trying to hold it together. They were moving a lot faster than Liz/Rika had told him they would.

"Well isn't that good?"

"Yes it is. It's really good…." He drifted off for a second before shaking himself back into reality. "But is it real? It's just an online game. What if it doesn't mean anything? What if she is a guy?" Ryoutarou was trying so hard to contain his laughter on the inside. After all he did know the truth behind Snow Princess.

"The only way you will find out is if you ask her. You can't find out by yourself how she feels." He wasn't worried about his friend or the girl he liked at all. They would be fine.

"I guess I am just worried that it doesn't mean anything."

"Good luck. I always hoped Kirito and Snow Princess would get together and now I want it more!" The two of them left and went back to class chatting and when Kazuto wasn't paying attention Ryoutarou sent a thumbs up toward Rika. She saw it and smiled and returned one of her own.

* * *

5 minutes ago

"But what if he doesn't like me? Then by kissing him I ruined everything!" Asuna was up on the roof pacing and freaking out and the one catching this freak out was Rika who was sitting on the ground next to her pacing friend.

"You won't find that out complaining to me! Talk to him before the fight. You wouldn't want to lose and get kicked out of the tournament because you and Kirito can't work together." Rika was pushing her friend onto the boy who had a crush on her. Also all this worrying and scheming she is doing is putting years on her. Plus they are getting farther by themselves without her.

"You are right but if he likes me what does that mean?"

"Again. You have to ask him you can't figure that out on your own." The two went back to class after having almost the same exchange that Kazuto and Ryoutarou had.

* * *

After school everyone went home to their computers to log into SAO. The tournament didn't start until 7. Kirito was sitting in his house on the 22nd floor instead of going out. He was worried about what he was going to do when he saw Snow Princess. Right as he was trying to figure this out he got a message from her saying she needed to talk to him. He replied by telling her to come to his house.

She arrived at the door and he brought her into the living room. They sat in awkward silence for about ten minutes just staring at each other. Finally Kirito spoke up "What did you want to talk about?"

"Sorry." She just blurted it out.

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

"What for? For the kiss! I sprung it on you without asking. Now you are acting weird and distant! And it's my fault for what I did. So I am apologizing for it and I promise I won't…"

Kirito decided to stop her tirade by covering up her mouth... with his own. When the kiss ended with a very surprised Snow Princess and a smiling Kirito he decided it was his turn to talk.

"I was just worried what the kiss meant. I really like you and I was worried it was just an in game thing that didn't mean anything, but with this reaction I am fairly confident that it's not like that at all. It is real isn't it?"

She continued to look at him with shock. "It is real. Or at least I want it to be."

They both looked at each other and were about to kiss again when the both heard beeping noises. On their screen appeared a 15 minute warning until the beginning of the tournament.

They both jumped off the couch and ran out the door to the first floor of Aincrad.

The town of beginnings is the only place large enough to host the tournament. The organizers also wanted to make it so any player in game would be able to see it. The creators of the game made a huge colosseum in the middle of the city. Kirito and Asuna arrived in time for their battle with The Army. This was the last battle of the first round and so far the other three that had advanced to the next round was the Dragon Alliance, Laughing Coffin, and the Knights of the Blood Oath. That was to be expected. Whoever won the battle between Agil's team and The Army gets to go against Laughing Coffin tomorrow.

The battle is set up in a large open colosseum with nowhere for the teams to hide.

"Everyone listen up!" Agil was in front of the group for the pre-battle strategy. "The Army which we are facing lives up to their name. All of their battle formations are based off different strategies of famous armies in the past. The phalanx is their favorite and most effective formation. They will rank up in a 6x6 formation most likely. They are in heavy armor and favor strong defense."

Everyone in the room was listening to the explanation about their enemy. They all wanted to win this. "We will break into the groups we mentioned before and use our superior agility to do hit and run tactics. They will probably cycle out the outside fighters to heal so we will have to wear them down until they are out of potions. The same goes for us. Everyone got it?" There was a loud cheer of enthusiasm. From the group.

"Then let's move out." The team funneled out into the colosseum and was met with an organized army on the opposite end of matching green armor and pikes with shields. That gave away that they were using the exact strategy that Agil mentioned in the meeting earlier.

There was an announcer introducing everyone on each team that was playing in the tournament. He also was pointing out the rules to win. To win one team has to eliminate all the people on the other team, or whichever team has the most people left at the end of 45 minutes.

It took a long time to get ready and while that was going on and everyone got into their parties. Kirito, Snow Princess, Klein, and his friends are in group E and were assigned to attack the back of the team to distract them from the frontal assault led by Agil. Kirito of course only got one sword ready for the battle since he did not want to show his secret during the most public event in SAO.

The buzzer rang out signaling the beginning the battle.

Group E sped around to the back of the square formation of The Army. The constant attacks that Kirito and his group were doing against wall were not doing much. Their team was not getting far and were taking constant damage from the pikes.

Kirito looked around and saw the other groups were in the same position. They were able to use agility to get away and take potions but the team had lost 5 people while they had lost only 1. This wouldn't be a problem if they were not at 43 minute mark.

The team was starting to panic and make mistakes. They were getting wounded and having to stay back. No one knew what to do to turn this around in such a short time. The Army had planned on running out the clock the whole time. That is why they focused on defense rather than offense.

Kirito was running through ideas in his mind when he looked over to Snow Princess who was smiling.

"All the wounded shuffle to the middle to heal correct?"

Kirito immediately understood what she was saying. "Agreed lets launch one more attack."

Klein stared at the two people that completely confuse him. "Alright whatever you say."

Group E launched one final attack wounding the back line and as group E retreated away the back line moved to the center to heal but what they didn't expect was Kirito and Snow Princess to fake their retreat and circle around right away and rush at the line. Even the surprise of that move didn't compare to what came next.

Kirito ducked under the spears that stabbed at him and used a sword skill to destroy them while Asuna used her speed to go directly at the wall and jumped. She landed in the middle of The Army's formation and was surrounded by many shocked faces holding potions that have not been drank and weapons. A second later she was at them. Piercing attacks landing on wounded player after player.

Kirito jumped over the same line and landed next to her and they fought back to back for the last 90 seconds doing what they could .

The buzzer sounded and signaled the end of the battle. It was announced that Agil's team had won loosing 8 people and The Army lost 12. After Snow Princess and Kirito jumped into the fray everyone else launched an all-out attack on the outside lines.

Everyone cheered. The explosive ending to the long drawn out battle riled up the crowd. Then the crowd got even louder as all eyes drew toward the two stars of the match in the middle of the stadium. In all the excitement they celebrated and kissed each other.

The public proof of the rumors were driving the crowd wild.

"About time. Now when are they going to figure out who they are?" Liz standing off to the side watching her friend with a smile on her face.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Here I am again apologizing for the large amount of time that has passed between chapters. I have tried to make time to write but I have been busy. And here again I will try to promise I will post a new chapter in much less time than a month after this. I just hope you continue to stick with me and read my updates and enjoy the story as it continues on. I enjoy writing it and now I am back at school which was when I was able to write much more back in April and May. I hope that will happen again since I enjoy so much.**

 **Thank you for reading and I hope you will come back and stick with it.**

After the win in the first round of the tournament Agil and most of the team all logged out with strict instructions to be ready and alert for tomorrows battle with Laughing Coffin, which would be tough and brutal.

After Kazuto logged out he went downstairs to get some food. Playing video games could really work up an appetite and this was an especially long and tough day. He walked into the kitchen to make a sandwich only to find his sister sitting at the table smiling at her tablet. She looked up at him when she heared him enter.

"Big Brother congratulations!"

He was taken aback by this. "What do you mean?"

She held up her tablet to show him what she had been looking at. It was the online magazine for video game news. "Oh. You heard that we won the first round tournament! Thanks, it was a tough match."

His sister was laughing at him. "No not that! Look at this!" She shoved the tablet into his face only to read the opening headline on the page.

Kirito and Snow Princess Steal the Win, and a Kiss!

Kazuto looked at the picture on the front page of their team celebrating surrounding him kissing the aforementioned girl. Normally he would blush and try to deny it, but it was all there in front of his face.

And looking at it all he could do was smile.

* * *

Snow Princess stayed logged into the game and went off with Liz to eat and celebrate the victory.

"He kissed me! He. Kissed. Me... Do you think that means he likes me?!"

Snow Princess and Liz were sitting at a table in a tavern located on the Floor of Beginnings. Saying Snow Princess was a celebrity is a bit of an understatement. So when many people who spend most of their time on the first floor see one of the most well-known characters in the game, their hero, sitting in a tavern babbling like an idiot, she may get a few stares. They thought she was going crazy but was completely oblivious to all the attention she was getting.

"Calm down Snow Princess. People are staring." Her friend on the other hand noticed everything.

"Sorry. I am just so excited!"

"I know you are. And since he kissed you I think it is safe to say that he likes you." She was genuinely happy for her friend.

"I don't know if I can wait till tomorrow to see him!"

Liz looked at her from across the table. "You are going to have to. He logged out right after everyone left the stadium."

"No! I am not going to be able to get any sleep tonight." She was clearly distraught. When Snow Princess found someone she liked she didn't like letting anything get in her way.

"Just message him to meet you before the match tomorrow. I don't want either of you distracted and I am worried that it will be worse than this one. And we were barely able to sneak this victory out thanks to your idiotic move."

It was announced that the schedule on Saturday for the semi-finals was that their match would again be later in the day at 7pm while the match between the Dragon Alliance and Knights of the Blood Oath would be at 3pm.

Snow Princess got out her friends list and sent Kirito a message asking to meet at arena to watch the first match together. She just hoped he logged on between now and then so he could see it.

"There. Hopefully that won't make me seem too eager."

"I wouldn't worry about that. He is as much of an oblivious idiot as you are." Snow Princess shot her head up at Liz with a confused look on her face. Liz let out an audible sigh "Never mind just finish your food."

The two friends finished their meal and logged out for the night.

* * *

The next day Kirito had logged in to SAO around 2pm and saw the message from Snow Princess about meeting up. He had a few reservations about them meeting up in such a public place after the publicity of what happened yesterday but he wanted to see her so he went anyway.

They met up outside of the arena and found spots to watch the match. They both were acting awkwardly and all the people staring at them and speaking in whispers over their shoulder. Snow Princess noticed the people but she didn't have a high level of listening like Kirito did who was red after hearing all the comments from the people around them.

They both felt awkward after what had happened yesterday and barely spoke. Then Kirito couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you out of nowhere like that."

Snow Princess looked up at him with a shocked faced and mumbled something that even Kirito's ears couldn't catch.

"What was that?"

"I said that I don't want you to feel sorry. I... I liked it." She went bright red at that. Saying out loud how she really felt about him was pretty much a nightmare for her. But any reservations she had about it went out the window when she saw his smile.

"I'm glad, because I'm not really sorry." If they had been paying attention they would have heard the people around them coughing and gagging at them. Luckily they were too focused on each other to notice all of these reactions.

Suddenly the crowd erupted in cheers and it caught their attention. They looked down to see the teams being introduced.

"Are you going to root for your guild to win? If they win then we will have to fight them tomorrow after we win our fight." Kirito didn't want her to feel bad about fighting her own guild, but it would also be weird if she cheered against them.

When she didn't answer he looked back to her to see that her focus was down toward the arena on the teams.

"That's weird." She scrunched her eyebrows trying to see the players better.

"What is it?" She looked back to Kirito who was worried by the expression on her face. She smiled at him. It made her happy that he was worried about her.

"It's nothing. I just thought the second in command Kuradeel was leading the team in the tournament but I didn't see him. It looks like Heathcliff is in charge of everything from what I can tell."

That name made Kirito freeze in his spot. "Did you just say Heathcliff?"

The way he asked her worried Snow Princess. "Yes. He is the third in command of the guild. He is pretty good. Why? Do you know him?"

Kirito quickly looked down to the arena floor to see the same man he had dueled on 68th floor earlier in the week and it sent a chill down his spine. Just then he knew that Knights of the Blood Oath were going to continue on to the final because there was no way anyone could beat him. Who was this guy and when did he join the KoB? Just then Kirito saw Heathcliff look up right at him and wink.

Snow Princess stared at Kirito and saw the fear on Kirito's face.

Kirito looked over at her "How can you have someone as powerful as him in your group and have him only third in command?"

"What do you mean? He is at least 10 levels below you."

Kirito's mouth dropped. "That's impossible. I dueled him this week when I ran into him on the 68th floor, and I had to use both of my swords and I still lost." He looked around to make sure no one noticed him mention his duel wielding secret.

It was Snow Princess's turn to have her mouth agape as her attention turned back to her guild on the field. "No. That can't be true."

Just then the buzzer rang out that sent the arena into a frenzy as the two guilds fought.

Throughout the whole battle Kirito didn't take his eyes off Heathcliff and for some reason he could tell that Heathcliff knew. The smirk he had throughout the whole battle as he cut down opponent after opponent. The match didn't even last 20 minutes before Dragon Alliance was taken out.

Heathcliff had expertly moved around without drawing attention to himself bringing down health and fighting many people but he barely killed any so that anyone who wasn't specifically watching him wouldn't notice that he did almost half the damage against the enemy guild.

But Kirito saw and knew that he would have to be the one to defeat him or else Agil's team would lose. He tried to pay attention to any weaknesses, but there were none. It was almost impossible to get around that shield. Also from the looks of it he could predict almost every Sword Skill in the game.

Kirito and Snow Princess left after the battle and they had an hour before they were to meet up with their team so they decided to walk around the Town of Beginnings together. The tournament had spread past the arena and had the whole town in a festival vibe with stalls and vendors and activities happening across the whole city.

He didn't notice when but as they walked they started holding hands. He hated to admit it but he pretty much had found the girl of his dreams and now that he was walking hand in hand with her, his mind was elsewhere. He couldn't stop thinking about Heathcliff. It wasn't just his ego either. He wasn't just being upset that he might not be the best… Well it wasn't only that. There was something else about him. Something different he couldn't put his finger on.

"Kirito." He looked up to the girl next to him. "If I am bothering you I can go." She seemed worried and sad and at the same time she dropped his hand.

He grabbed it back and gave her a reassuring smile. "No. I'm just distracted by Heathcliff."

"Why? So he is better than we thought. What is the big deal? Players hiding their true level is not a new thing. Or is it your pride was hurt." She gave him a knowing smirk. All gamers are competitive, especially the best.

They both laughed off the awkwardness and got Kirito's mind off the conundrum of Heathcliff.

The two of them spent the hour break going around and playing games, eating food, and just talking. It was their first date together and it couldn't have gone better. In typical date fashion (at least what Kirito had learned of dates from watching Anime) he worked really hard to win her a stuffed animal of a Ragout Rabbit.

"Seriously, you didn't have to spend so much money on the game. This was the top prize."

Kirito had been frustrated how rigged the Skee ball game had been. The first prize hole wasn't even big enough for the ball to get into! So instead of repeatedly rolling the ball in and having it miss he used his high strength level and through it through the hole breaking the game leaving a slightly larger hole in its place.

"I wanted to get you the best." He looked away sheepishly with a blush creeping on his face.

As he finished that sentence she had one to match and held on to her rabbit as tightly as he could.

"What are you going to name him?" The femine voice came from behind them startling them. They turned around to see Liz and Klein with the largest smiles on their faces.

"Liz. How long have you been there?" Snow Princess had gone past red to neon pink. Liz was trying really hard to keep her laugh in.

"Long enough to see a pretty irate man trying to fix his Skee ball stand."

Klein stepped in before Snow Princess killed the blacksmith. "Come on guys. We have a meeting before our match in 10 minutes. Let's head over there together and get ready."

The group of four calmed down and left toward the arena. Snow Princess grabbed Kirito's hand. When he looked up at her she had the most dazzling smile ever and it made forget everything and just wish to continue to stand there.

"You still didn't say what you were going to name the rabbit." Moment ruined.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: This chapter came a lot faster than the last. It is a lot more action packed than the other chapters before it which worries me a little because I always felt that writing fight scenes is my biggest weakness so if there was any feedback that anyone wanted to give on that end it would be much appreciated. I hope that I can keep turning out chapters this fast because I want to get to the next arc which I have some ideas for that I am pretty excited to get writing. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this chapter and I would like to say thank you to everyone for all the support for this series.**

When the four friends walked into the room they found a very dejected team waiting for them. They were all sitting around the room staring at their perspective walls. "Woah. Something is definitely wrong with this atmosphere, especially since we just had an awesome win." Klein was the first to speak up about the scene that the group was facing.

"We watched a video of The Laughing Coffin's match yesterday and it was brutal." Even Agil looked down about the match. "They were smiling and joking as they slaughtered the guild."

"That is to be expected. They do have the name Laughing Coffin. If they didn't smile while killing people it wouldn't make much sense would it." Kirito tried to lighten the mood a little, but it didn't help. "Look. I won't say this match will be easy. These guys have a lot more experience fighting players. They now how to frighten people like they have firghtened youl That is where they get their power from. You are just as skilled as they are. If you go into the match scared they will win."

Everyone was staring at Kirito. A man, who to everyone there was a stranger that has always fought alone. Now look at him. He is here trying to rally the troops against a very difficult foe. The only reason he is able to be so calm right now is that he wasn't even thinking about Laughing Coffin. He had been so focused on Snow Princess and Heathcliff he neglected to even worry about this match.

"They may have experience in killing players, but the way they do this is by causing panic and making their opponents flee and fight erratically." Kirito had encountered the PKers a few times in the past and could recall their style. "If you hold your ground and work together we can win. They are the complete opposite of The Army who we faced yesterday. They have no teamwork and fight on their own. If you stick together and fight as a group they will get in their own way and make mistakes. Capitalize on those and attack."

Everyone was frozen in place staring at the solo player. It had surprised them that he could talk like this. Just then he felt a weight on his shoulders and looked to his left to see Klein resting his arm on Kirito. "I knew you had in you." Kirito looked back at his team and they were all standing up and getting their equipment ready for the upcoming battle with a new fire in their eyes. They weren't going to lose to those pathetic excuses for gamers. Kirito knew they were going to win, but what would happen tomorrow was a mystery. He was never able to get that shield user out of his mind.

* * *

The group entered the arena for the second time to go into battle. Across from them they could see the hooded and cloaked figures of Laughing Coffin snickering at them, but it had no effect on the team. They kept their gazes focused on the enemy and didn't falter.

The team had decided to stick to a strategy of fighting in pairs. Everyone had teamed up with someone they worked well with (of course Snow Princess and Kirito were together) everyone from class had paired up with friends while Klein and his friends stuck together in two pairs.

When the buzzer began it was chaos. Their team had held off against the Laughing Coffin better than anyone else but the constant attacks didn't allow for time to heal their wounds or rest like the last battle did. The enemy used poisoned blades to slowly chip away at their forces.

Even though everyone had paired up they still tried to stay together in a large group overall so as not to get singled out, but that is where Laughing Coffin proved the most skilled. They had picked off groups before and knew how to separate people. The loses on either side were almost even when it was Kirito and Snow Princess turn.

Laughing Coffin knew that those two were the powerhouses of the team and singled them out and separated the two from the group. They also knew that even if that those two were separated they were still a force to be reckoned with and worked to separate them from each other. That proved much more difficult since they had experience working together.

Finally while defending back to back very successfully against six people on their own, one of the hooded figures purposefully left himself completely open as a sacrifice and the bait was taken and Kirito could see it happen before his eyes. "Snow Princess! No!" She used the powerful thrusting attack and launched herself at the sacrifice. The sword went in and took the player, who only had a small amount of health in the first place, out.

She realized her mistake right away as she was surrounded by 2 players and was more than 30 feet away from Kirito who was surrounded by 3.

* * *

"We get to take on the best player in the whole game. This will be fun." One player that was surrounding Kirito was wielding a powerful slashing sword, another held a dagger (which was probably poisoned like the rest of their weapons have been), and the last held a piercing sword that Kirito couldn't remember what it was called. It was the man with the slashing sword that had spoken.

"I should feel honored being singled out by the three top members of Laughing Coffin, but for some reason I am not." Kirito knew enough of the guile to be able to recognize the leaders. He couldn't help but smirk at the three figures surrounding him. Where would the first move come from?

"I wouldn't worry about the others, I will take care of you all by my-" Just then the hooded figure that held the piercing sword disappeared in a shower of pixelated shards. In his place stood the black swordsman who in one quick move dispatched the lieutenant. He turned around to and smirk at the two remaining members.

"He was talking too much. Now are we going to fight?" No one was listening to what he was saying. They were busy staring at his hand, well both of them to be specific since there was a sword in either hand.

All of their research about being able to defeat this team went out the window with the appearance of a duel wielder. Kirito had decided it might not be necessary for this battle to use both, but with the tricks that this group could use was a risk he didn't want to take and regret later. Plus he knew if they won he would have to reveal the use of duel wielding when fighting Heathcliff tomorrow anyway. These guys were only a stepping stone to reaching the real challenge and they were being really annoying.

The two leaders that remained attacked simultaneously and were both pushed back simultaneously. Kirito had never fought like this before and it was the first real challenge he had faced in the game in a long time. He may have been better than these two but they were skilled. PoH, the man with the sword, let lose attack after attack on Kirito. His attacks were savage and unpredictable. He was clearly the more powerful of the two and it was wearing him down. It took all his focus to block them.

This was all meant to be the distraction while the knife wielder was trying to sneak in a deadly attack on Kirito's flank. Unfortunately it worked. The knife slipped into the back of Kirito's leg while he was blocking PoH's overhead slashes. Kirito immediately spun around to where the attack had come from and brought his sword's down on the knife wielder turning him into a cloud of shards.

Once again Kirito's guard was down after that attack and PoH brought his sword down in a vicious slash to where Kirito's arms were extended severing Kirito's left hand at his wrist. The problem for PoH was that he overlooked one crucial detail after this small victory in which he let his guard down. Kirito still had one more hand which held another sword and he spun it around and got PoH in the back and he too joined his teammates in defeat.

After his battle was done Kirito dropped to his knees. He had been poisoned by the knife wielder and his hand cut off, but he survived a 3 on 1 battle with the leaders of Laughing Coffin. He was pretty ecstatic about it until he remembered the battle wasn't over and he turned to see Snow Princess on the ground with a man over her laughing with his sword raised and Kirito ran.

* * *

 _Just a little earlier._

Snow Princess had just been separated from Kirito. Which was admittedly her fault but she could deal with two on her own. She only hoped that Kirito wouldn't suffer from her mistake. What had stopped her in her tracks though was when one of her attackers who was laughing at her getting caught in their trap had dropped his hood. It revealed a face she had not expected to see on this battlefield.

"Kuradeel? What are you doing with laughing coffin!?" The man couldn't stop laughing at how much he caught her off guard. While she was distracted by him the other attacker made his move. He launched his attack which Snow Princess had expertly dodged, only receiving a small scratch, and spun around behind him and launched a powerful piercing attack on his back as she caught him surprised at her sudden dodge. No one was ever prepared for her speed.

She turned back to Kuradeel to deal with the traitor. She turned to see him still smiling like he was confident in his standing. Then it happened. She dropped to the ground. The small scratch she had received had paralyzed her and she had failed to see the icon that appeared by her name during the scuffle.

Kuradeel sauntered over to her prone body. "Looks like you are finally getting what was coming to you."

"Why?" She couldn't understand how her number two could betray her like this.

"You ask why? It's because you are weak! You ruled over one of the most powerful guilds in the whole game and did nothing with it. You could have conquered and claimed whatever you wanted. I wanted to help you achieve that power! Then you threw it away and did nothing. You let everyone do what they want and never asked for anything in return for what you did. You were weak and there was no way I could serve someone as pathetic as you." The vehemence in his voice shook her to her core. How could he harbor these kind of feelings right under her nose. She trusted him so much and he had turned traitor.

"So when my chance came I joined up with Laughing Coffin. I gave them information on everyone from our guild. Stats, equipment, level, skill, and even fighting style. When we fight Knights of the Blood Oath tomorrow there will be no way we can lose. Then I can play a major role in making them the strongest guild in the whole game. No one will mess with us and we will be able to do whatever we want and everyone will run in fear." The look on his face was so twisted and dark Snow Princess couldn't even recognize her former subordinate.

He raised his two handed sword and swung to bring it down on his former captain. Snow Princess closed her eyes. It felt like it took forever for the sword to come down until she heard a voice. "Huh?!" She opened her eyes to see a flabbergasted Kuradeel drop his sword and look down and see a small black form in front of him. It was Kirito and his hand was imbedded in Kuradeel's chest. Kuradeel looked into the eyes of the boy and then burst into shards.

Snow Princess turned to look at Kirito and saw his injuries and the poison marker next to his name. He must have won his battle, but it was much closer than it should have been.

He fell back down to his knees next to her. Both of the slumped forms look over to where the rest of their group had been only to see Agil bring his large ax down on the last remaining member of Laughing Coffin thus securing their victory, but considering Agil was the last person standing over there leaving only the three of them in the arena. The battle was a lot closer than they had hoped.

The arena was silent for a moment. Then the cheers erupted as the signal for the end of the match rang out. It was deafening and rang out so Snow Princess couldn't hear anything, which is why she thought she was going crazy hearing what she heard as she whipped her head around to check. Her eyes were wide as she saw that Kirito was staring at her.

"Wh….What did you say?"

"I said let's get married."


	15. Chapter 15

Kirito was able to sneak out of the arena without anyone seeing him. The whole team had shown up on the arena congratulating him and Snow Princess on the insane victory they had just won. They both got out of tough spots and were able to turn the match around. Luckily enough no one else had heard the proposal and Snow Princess was too shocked to answer before everyone got to them. Before they were able to be alone he took off without anyone noticing. Which was quite a feat since everyone wanted to ask him about the duel wielding skill.

He went back to his cabin in the woods and logged out before anyone could catch up to him. Kazuto removed his nerve gear and was laying in his dark room. It was late that night and he just stared up at the ceiling.

"What have I done?"

He couldn't believe he had just blurted that out. They had barely kissed and held hands. He didn't know if they were even dating, and he had gone and proposed to her in the heat of the moment like that. He was terrified that he had just ruined everything between the two of them.

* * *

Snow Princess was still standing in a haze. Everyone around her was celebrating over a victory she had totally forgotten about. She was too busy thinking about the words Kirito had whispered to her at the end of the battle. It had thrown her through a loop. Two days ago she had no idea whether the boy even liked her and now he had proposed to her. Was he just doing this because it was a game?

This was something she was still worried about. She could tell she had real feelings for the boy and hoped that they were reciprocated. A true gamer, like Kirito, was secretive. He had told her before about his secret skill and even talked about his sister, but getting married in game was illogical. There was no point or advantage. All it did was open yourself up for people to betray you since the only thing that getting married would do was make your storage shared.

Since women were so uncommon it has been known for people to create female avatars for the sole purpose to be sexy, and then they would marry wealthy and powerful characters. Then they would clean out the shared inventory and give it over to someone else who was in on it.

Does this mean that a logical and powerful player like Kirito truly cared about her back? She needed to find out but for some reason she couldn't find him. He had left the group leaving her the sole attention of all the spectators and teammates which made it impossible for her to escape. Everyone was asking her about Kuradeel and what was going to happen to him which she thought was obvious. He was out of her guild and in Laughing Coffin. There was nothing else she could do.

She checked her friend list and saw that Had had completely logged out. Had she ruined it between them by not answering? She didn't even know what she wanted from him or what he wanted from her. She just hoped that what had happened could be fixed.

After the chaos was over and Snow Princess was finally able to escape she went back to her apartment and logged out.

Asuna immediately started texting her friend about what had happened.

 _R- He proposed to you?_

 _AY- Yes_

 _R- What are you going to say to him when you see him tomorrow?_

 _AY- I don't know! I don't even know why he did that. Does he just want Snow Princess as another trophy, another thing in the game he conquered?_

 _R- I doubt that. He didn't seem like that kind of guy, but maybe you should just ask and find out. Now I am going to be because it is getting late. I will see you tomorrow at the finale!_

Asuna laid in her bed for a long time trying to fall asleep. Ideas kept running through her mind how tomorrow would go. Kirito telling her he was kidding, Kirito being mad because she didn't answer right away, or what if he just didn't care. She finally fell asleep after several hours of contemplating the "what ifs".

* * *

Kazuto got out of bed and went downstairs for a little late night snack where he ran into his sister who had done the same. She was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal. She looked to be thinking about something and didn't even notice Kazuto coming into the room.

He went to get his own bowl of cereal and sat down across from her and she still didn't notice.

"Wow Sugu, you seem completely lost in thought." Now she jumped out of her chair and fell to the floor.

"Don't sneak up on me like that brother." She pouted from a sitting position on the floor before getting back up and returning to her seat.

"I didn't sneak up on you. I walked in and made a bowl of cereal. What is so important that you are so distracted?" His older brother side was coming out and was now worried about his sister. She usually doesn't get worked up over nothing.

"Just stuck on a big quest in a game I am playing. That's all! Nothing for you to worry about." She could see that Kazuto was getting worried and she wanted to assure him it was nothing big.

"Well I am glad you getting into games, but you shouldn't lose sleep over it. Anything I can do? I am good with games."

"No. I'm playing Alfheim online and I don't think you have ever played that before. Part of the fun is solving problems on your own. I don't want to cheat." She got a nasty look on her face but Kazuto figured he would leave it alone. She probably had a run in with a cheater and it made her unhappy. He was glad that she was so invested in it.

"Well if you ever need help just ask." She smiled up at her brother after this comment.

"What is going on with you? You normally wouldn't come down here this late unless you were worried about something too. Is it something to do with the tournament? Or is it Snow Princess?" When Kirito looked away with a pink blush creeping up on his cheeks, she knew she had hit the bull's eye. "What did you do this time, brother?" She said this in a more exhausted tone than a curious one.

"I may have….proposed." Suguha sat in stunned silence staring at her brother from across the table with her mouth agape.

"Proposed? As in marriage?!" She nearly fainted.

"Calm down! It's only for in game. In SAO you can get married to someone in game and it allows you to share your inventory as an act of trust." This got her attention a little.

"Good. I am way too young to be a sister-in-law." She looked back at her brother accusingly "And by far too young to be an aunt." All the color drained from his face.

"Calm down Sugu. You are the one that seems to be moving too fast with this. Plus it's not like you can actually get someone pregnant in a video game."

"So you admit it! you are doing that kind of stuff with her."

"Stop jumping to conclusions." She knew he wouldn't do that. She just enjoyed messing with her big brother.

"So. What did she say?" Kazuto had stopped his fluster after this question and went back into the somber mood he was in as he came downstairs.

"She didn't really have time to answer. She seemed really shocked when I asked. And…. I sort of ran away before she could answer." He looked guiltily toward the ground.

"You idiot!" She was furious. What kind of idiot proposes then runs away?

"I know. I will see her tomorrow anyway. I just hope she isn't angry or avoids me from now on."

Suguha gave her brother a pitying look. He was genuinely worried and upset by this. That made her happy. It had been a long time since anything actually made him worried showing that he was finally coming out of his shell. "Calm down and just see what she has to say tomorrow. Maybe she will say yes!"

The two of them sat and finished their cereal and continued on with small talk for a while. Kirito told her a blow by blow account of the battle today and then when they finished they both went to bed.

* * *

The next day Kirito logged into SAO and awoke in the bed in his cabin. He was dreading running into a specific person that day but was also excited. It had to happen at some point so the sooner the better. He rushed out of his front door…

"Kirito." A soft voice came from his side and he halted immediately and turned around. Snow Princess was sitting on the ground leaning up against his cabin and had been waiting for him.

"I guess it was sooner." He whispered this to himself. "Would you like to come inside and talk?" He now felt the dread hit him full force. She didn't look happy.

They walked through the front door and sat down in the kitchen on opposite sides of the table. They sat in complete silence for a minute. The tension was so thick that Kirito couldn't have cut it with his most powerful sword skill.

"I'm sorry." Kirito was the first to speak up.

Snow Princess looked up at him shocked and almost saddened. "Sorry? What are you sorry for? Are you taking it back? Did it mean nothing to you?" She had now turned angry.

"No, I still want to ask the question. I am sorry about leaving. I shouldn't have ran away yesterday."

She calmed down a little. "Why did you ask me?"

Her bluntness startled Kirito a little bit. He was scared on how she would react, but he swore to himself he was going to tell the truth to her. "I want this to be real. I really like you and it's not just some in game thing, but I don't really know how to show that. So that was the only thing I could think of."

During his small monologue he had been looking at the ground. Now he looked up and saw the most dazzling smile he had ever seen. Snow Princess was staring at him and she looked so happy and beautiful.

"Good. I was worried that I didn't actually mean anything to you. I want this to be real too and so I just wanted to make sure that was how you felt. You may have been after my items." She smirked and gave him a little wink. Kirito had better items anyway so there would have been no point for the ruse to try to steal hers.

"Are you saying yes to the proposal?" His hopes were rising. He looked up at her expectantly.

"Maybe." And the hopes fell again and his expression took such a drastic change that she started giggling. "Don't worry Kirito I am not saying no. I just have a condition before I say yes." She stared at his eyes with such a soft smile it made him melt. "I want to know your name."

"What do you mean? It's Kirito." He couldn't help but be confused.

"No silly. Your real name. I want this to be real. A real relationship between us. I am not saying we need to continue this in real life and meet there. It is more than likely we have no idea who the other person is even if we know our names. I just want to be able to use your real name when we are alone in game. I think that would be what would make this real." She was hopeful but this threw Kirito back a second. She figured that would happen since asking for someone's real identity in game was taboo. It is something you never do and it would give anyone pause.

"OK." Her thoughts stopped and she was surprised.

"What?"

He smiled at her with all the confidence in the world and no hesitation. "I said OK. I will tell you my name."

She was happy. It was real. All of her fear and apprehension disappeared in that moment. Everything was as real to him as it was to her. She was going to find out who he was. She already knew who he was but she wanted a name to put to him. "Kirito, what is your name?" She looked at him with excitement in her eyes.

"My name is-" Just then an alarm went off cutting his sentence short. She looked at her menu and Liz was calling her.

"Where are you!? The match starts in twenty minutes. Kirito is late too. You guys aren't doing any honeymoon activities are you?" Her eyes went wide. They had lost track of time. She looked up at Kirito who did not hear that conversation which was good since her blush would have been ten times worse if he had.

"On our way." She hung up on her friend and grabbed Kirito's hand and dragged him out of the cabin. "We need to go or we will be late!"

Kirito looked down on his hand which was being held by Snow Princess and smiled. He trusted her with his inventory. And he was going to trust her with his name. It was exhilarating and it made him smile. "Alright. Let's win this! Then we can finish our conversation afterwards."

She turned around and made eye contact with him and smiled. "Definitely."

The two ran down the boardwalk away from his cabin in a hurry to get to the arena for the final battle of the tournament.

 **AN: Getting close to the end of the first arc. It feels like it has been a lot longer than it has been since I started it. Good thing that the whole story is no where near done and this is just the first chapter. Again I encourage any criticism or thoughts on the work in hopes of improving my writing. I have a lot more free time now as all of you can tell since I am pumping out chapters a lot quicker. I hope I will be able to continue but I do have a few big projects in school this fall so If I don't update as quickly as I am now please stay with me and I hope you be patient for updates.**

 **For those of you who think that this story is staying a little too close to the real story I can understand your concerns since it makes you thinking that you know everything that is coming. I just want to let you know that this is my first big writing endeavor and have been using the series as a template but I will let you know that the next arc is going to go further from than canon story and I hope you enjoy it.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

Kirito and Snow Princess made it to the arena just in time for the match to start. They hurried to the starting area where Agil gave them a quick rundown of the meeting while also giving them a very stern disapproving look that matched the face of a teacher getting mad at a tarty student but it did not work for the face of a large axe wielding warrior. It was comical and made it hard for the two of them to hold in their giggles.

The plan was to fight in the same party groups that they used when fighting against the boss last week. It had worked well for them then and their method of using pairs last time almost got them beaten since it was easy to pick off a pair when isolated, but it is harder to do that with a group of six.

Kirito looked across the arena and a certain knight caught his eye. He was looking back at Kirito and gave him an icy smile paired with his cold eyes. It gave him a look of almost calculated pleasure which was a weird combination. Something about that man still did not sit right with Kirito and this was his chance to figure that out.

He saw Snow Princess looking over at her friend Liz giving her a smile and a thumbs up while Liz had a suggestive eyebrow raised toward her with her hands on her hips which held the protective stare of an older sister. Well at least that was the vibe that Kirito got off those two.

Everyone formed up into their groups, Kirito was in the same group as before which had Snow Princess, Klein, and Klein's friends together. When they got in their groups they waited eagerly for the beginning of the match.

The match began at the sound of the buzzer.

The one thing that Kirito did not count on was that the relationship between Snow Princess and Knights of the Blood Oath would cause them to be very eager to prove their worth by defeating their commander. Kirito's group was targeted very often by the enemy which caused strain and exhaustion on them. Klein's friends had been defeated throughout the battles that had happened due to the spotlight on them.

The other thing that Kirito had noticed was that Heathcliff was doing a lot of damage against the rest of the team. The battle raged on and Kirito fought member after member while watching Heathcliff out of the corner of his eye.

After a while Heathcliff had whittled down their forces and made it all the way to Agil and while Agil was able to land a few large blows, Heathcliff was able to stop it with his shield but was pushed back a little bit. The only problem with Agil's strategy and fighting style was that it was the opposite of Heathcliff's. Agil was purely a power and offensive style fighter with almost no defense. Heathcliff was probably the strongest defensive player in the game so he could take Agil's attacks repeatedly. He was able to deflect every one of the attacks and launched a few of his own until he finally brought down the party leader.

With Agil gone that left only the three in Kirito's group left against 4 other players and Heathcliff.

It was a close match. Heathcliff was all the way on the other side of the arena. Kirito, Snow Princess, and Klein were all surrounded by the last four players. Kirito decided that the two of them could stand up to these four, but they would not be able to stand against Heathcliff.

He launched into a full sprint directly at one of the players that surrounded them surprising the enemy with his reckless attack. Kirito landed a powerful critical hit on the player, but instead of retreating back to the group he went passed the player using the whole he created with the attack and continued toward Heathcliff who was heading toward them.

Seeing this, Heathcliff stopped in the middle of the arena and patiently waited for his opponent with an excited smile spreading across his face. Kirito reached Heathcliff in a matter of seconds and stopped around thirty feet away from him. Both of them sheathed their weapons and pulled out potions while carefully watching their opponent. There was no need for words between the two since they were so similar and alike. They both wanted to fight the other to find out who was better and the only way they could do that was to drink potions to bring their health and status all the way to wanted to win because they had an advantage.

The tournament and the crowd no longer existed for the two warriors. They both finished up healing and then re-equiped their weapons. Kirito pulled out both of his swords this time. He knew he was going to have to use every ounce of strength for this opponent. This caused the crowd to erupt in cheers. When the two were ready they finally charged.

* * *

A short while earlier, Snow Princess watched as Kirito took off past the perimeter of enemies surrounding them. She had expected this considering he had been eyeing Heathcliff the whole match. She knew he had been thinking about this battle since he saw him fight. She used the surprise from Kirito's departure against the knights and as the person who had been hit by Kirito turned away from her to watch Kirito run away, she lunged and plunged her sword into the unsuspecting players back turning him into a cloud of shards. She jumped back quickly and stood with Klein back to back.

"It's just you and me now. Do you think we can take them?" He shot her a mischievous grin.

"I don't know. You tell me. You are their boss. Can't you just tell them to stand down or something?" That made her laugh.

Their enemies refocused their attention on those two after seeing Kirito was being sufficiently distracted by Heathcliff and watching their partner get taken out. They figured if they could bring down their commander and the samurai, then they would be able to help take down Kirito.

The knights launched attack after attack on the two but kept being pushed back. The match between the two sides were even until one of the players lured Snow Princess away and Klein was fighting 2 on 1. Snow Princess sent a plunging attack into her opponent at the same time Klein used a slashing sword skill against one of his. The other opponent used the chaos to go around Klein and attack Snow Princess from behind when she wasn't expecting it. Klein rushed in and dove in the way of the attack taking the full force so Snow Princess came out unscathed.

He was shouting something incoherent while he turned into shards. Something about how protecting a woman is a samurai's duty. Snow Princess used the surprise of Klein's crazy outburst and thrust through the shards that was once the samurai and landed a final attack on the third player.

* * *

Kirito and Heathcliff were in the heat of battle. It was similar to before where Heathcliff blocked almost every attack that Kirito through at him no matter how much speed, strength, or creativity he used. He could not get past his shield.

He knew not to use the sword attacks because they were too predictable. All they did was increase his power and he knew that was not what he needed. He continued to dance around him to try and find an opening but it never presented itself.

Kirito finally had to resort to using a sword skill and the smirk came across Heathcliff's face knowing he had won. He block each of the eight strikes of the skill until the last one where he went to use his shield to block it and noticed the smile that had stretched across Kirito's face.

Kirito knew he could never get around Heathcliff's shield. He was the perfect player with the perfect defense. To beat him Kirito had to be clever so he lured him in by using a sword skill which he knew Heathcliff could block easily, but Kirito tweaked it a little. Kirito had learned a nice little trick a while ago where if you use a sword skill on someone's weapon it can destroy it rather than be blocked and that is what he did. His sword came down and made contact with Heathcliff's shield and both the sword and the shield shattered.

Heathcliff's ironclad defense was gone and Kirito still had one sword left. They both stood still looking fiercely at the other. They were both having the time of their lives. No one had ever been a true challenge to either of them and now that they have met on this battlefield nothing was going to stand in their way from having their first true adventure in a long time.

"That was a neat trick there. I may have to use that in the future." The two stood still as Heathcliff exchanged words with Kirito.

Kirito smiled at him "Thank you. That means a lot coming from Akihiko Kayaba."

Heathcliff was visibly shocked for a few seconds until he broke out in a fit of laughter. No one could hear their conversation but the crowd was confused as to why they had stopped and Heathcliff was laughing. "How did you figure it out?" He wasn't about to insult Kirito by playing dumb. He had been caught red handed and owned up to it.

"When we had our first battle I thought your shield moved a little too fast which made me suspicious, but what really did it for me was in my last attack. I used a duel sword skill on you that I have never done in the presence of another player, yet you knew it and blocked it perfectly. Only a duel wielder or the person that created the skill could have known that."

Heathcliff could only smile at the boy. "You caught me. What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean? I thought we were in the middle of a fight." Kirito flashed a smile.

"You aren't going to turn me in? Announce my identity? Blackmail me for favors?"

It was Kirito's turn to laugh. "What are you talking about? It is taboo to talk about another gamer's real identity. Plus why would I do that? It's not like you killed thousands of people. You are just playing a game that you happened to have created. But if you speed up your abilities like our first duel and cheat again, then I may reveal your identity."

That got Heathcliff back into his stance. He flashed another smile "I knew you were going to be interesting from the moment we first clashed swords."

They completed one final charge at each other. Without his shield though, Heathcliff was at a disadvantage since Kirito was practiced in using one sword while Heathcliff was not used to fighting without a shield.

The battle went on for another minute until Kirito was able to land a final slashing blow against Heathcliff who was slow to react since his first instinct was to raise his shield which he didn't have. He couldn't get his sword up in time and took the hit and burst into shards.

They had won. The crowd erupted into a cheer and it brought Kirito's senses back. He had totally forgotten about everyone else. He looked to his side where Snow Princess had sat in the dirt about fifty feet away and watched their fight. She had won her battle and decided not to interfere with theirs. He had no idea how long she had been there or how much she heard, but he was just glad to see her.

The whole team rushed the field and tackled Kirito to the ground. That had been the most intense and entertaining one on one battle in the history of the game. It was a fitting way to end the largest tournament that had ever happened.

* * *

After the award ceremony at the arena Kirito went back to his cabin to log out. As he neared the front door he heard something behind him and went to turn around until something ran into him and he tumbled to the ground. He landed on his back and felt a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw Snow Princess sitting on him with a pouty face meant for him. This only made him laugh since she looked so cute pouting. That didn't help his case though.

"Remember your promise from earlier? You were just about to leave without telling me your name!" Actually in all the excitement of the battle he had forgotten about that. It felt like a lifetime ago.

"Of course I wouldn't forget! I just came here because I can't tell you out in the public areas in case someone was listening." He thought that sounded like a reasonable excuse. She looked at him with skeptical eyes.

"Sure you did. I will let it slide as long as you keep your promise." She got off him and offered a hand to help him up.

She pulled him up and the two of them went into the house. They got to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Kazuto." She almost missed it as she turned and stared at him with wide eyes. He just smiled back at her. "Kazuto Kirigaya."

She couldn't believe her ears. Could it be him? The same guy from class? The boy she had been eating lunch with? Liz had been weird earlier and tried to push her toward him when she talked about Kirito. Did she know who he was? It was all coming back to her. The thing about his younger sister. Even his name matched up with his player ID. What kind of Idiot uses parts of their name for that? Of course she then remembered when she first started the game and she had made an account that was just Asuna. Rika laughed at her and made her get a new account.

One last thing he had said to her over the last couple of weeks had stuck out in her mind.

"Snow Princess? Are you ok? You haven't said anything."

She looked over to Kiri..Kazuto who seemed worried. "Before I tell you my name I want to know one thing. Do you still have a crush on Asuna Yuuki?"

That surprised him. He had not expected that, but he was going to answer anyway. "Honestly, I think I might. She's nice, cute, funny, and even helped me when I was hurt. But you don't need to worry about her! I choose you over her!" He started rambling and fumbling his words as he realized he was still in the middle of a proposal talking about a different girl he liked until he realized something. He looked up at Snow Princess who was still smiling even though he was talking about another girl. "I only ever said her name was Asuna. I never said her family name."

He looked at her suspiciously until it all clicked. Liz the blacksmith was best friends with Snow Princess. Rika was best friends with Asuna. Her name Yuuki, meant snow. Everything came together "Oh my god. You're Asuna?" He suddenly felt horribly embarrassed. All those things he said and confessed about her. He had said it to her.

She just laughed at his stunned expression. "Is that ok?"

He gathered himself together "OK? That is great! But are you still ok with it?" He knew Snow Princess liked Kirito, but now that Kirito was the quiet kid with no friends in her class would that be alright.

To answer his question she leaned over and kissed him. It wasn't a short kiss either. She let his warmth engulf her as he returned it. When they finally broke apart neither really knowing how long it had been. "Was that a good enough answer?"

They spent the rest of the night talking and laughing about how it was so obvious and what they would do at a school. They had both agreed the relationship was real so that it went to real life as well.

"So are we going to do this?" Snow Princess finally asked Kirito. It was getting late and they did have school tomorrow.

"Of course." He sent the request to her.

When getting married in SAO it isn't as fancy as it is IRL. It is similar to just sending a friend request.

She accepted.

After some more time of talking they decided to log out of the game and to get some sleep as they would see each other the next day and could talk more then.

Kazuto got up from his bed in a daze. That had really happened. His two crushes were one person and he was now married to her (in game). A loud growl came from his stomach.

He left to get some food because he had been in game a lot longer than he had planned. He entered the kitchen to find his sister there again. She had a worried look on her face again and looked up as she heard him enter.

"Big brother. I need your help."

 **AN: So that is the end of the first story arc. I hope you like it and stick around for the next one. Please leave any reviews with any criticisms or ideas. They will be most helpful.**

 **Thank you**


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Well I am back from the year and a half break. I am sorry this took so long but life can get busy and things can get pushed down the list. I am also sorry this chapter is definitely on the short side but it is more supposed to be an introduction for part 2.

Thanks for your patience and please review with any ideas or comments you have.

"What is wrong Sugu?" Kazuto had just had one of the best days ever and now his sister was here looking worried.

"It's the game I like playing. Alfheim online. There is a problem. It is almost like someone had taken over the game but it didn't make sense." While the idea seemed a little far-fetched Kazuto figured he should listen to his little sister. "It is this group of players I am unsure of the name but it is like they teamed up with a group of monsters to take over the game."

Now he was truly confused. "What do you mean takeover the game? I know that ALO is segregated into different races. Is it just that one of the races found a way to get up above the others and took control?"

"No that's not it at all. It's like the leader of an independent guild got an alliance with a monster boss. A few days ago an army of Frost giants attacked the world tree and conquered it. It looked like they were taking orders from a player from what some people reported. At first some people thought it would be some sort of beast taming skill that was discovered, but after a while there was no notification about the world tree being conquered. The giants were still there and a few players were still seen walking in and out of the tree, but they were all from the same group."

To Kazuto this seemed completely unprecedented. This was not some trick of the game it seemed more like someone was hacking the game to take it over. But something of that magnitude would be taken care of immediately. The creators of the game would fix it and kick the hacker out or at least instill some penalties against them. Anyway this was no reason to get worried over. A message to the GM should solve any problem that occurred.

"That is not all though. A day after the group had taken over something happened. The World Tree started freezing over. The entire tree has turned to ice and it is spreading. The town around the tree is now frozen over and has giants patrolling the area."

"That does seem like a problem. It seems like the only way to stop this would be to defeat the monster boss at least and the player in charge of the group but it seems like most of his power comes from the frost giants." Kazuto was already thinking through what he would need to stop this. It could prove interesting and after his recent adventures in the video game world he didn't think normal grinding would feel as exciting anymore.

"The man behind it after taking over the world tree claimed the world as his and now calls himself Oberon the fairy king." She scoffed at that. "The guy seemed quite conceited and the truth is the guy seemed kind of weak himself. I am unsure how he was able to accomplish this." She had been trying to think this over and had come to the same conclusion as her brother. The guy had to have been cheating to achieve this.

"The best way to do this would be to get a large army to attack the tree all at once. That way you overwhelm them with numbers. It shouldn't be too hard to get everyone together against someone like that." He was surprised nobody thought of that.

"There is a problem with that idea. While it would work on the town it wouldn't work for the tree. We had a skilled group that was able to make it to the tree to enter but it was set up as a quest that only 12 people could enter. For such a huge and powerful enemy and there are giants up there too. We were unable to get past the 3rd giant with our best people there. We figured only about 8 of our people had enough strength and skill to actually compete and offer a challenge during the quest."

Kazuto immediately understood where this was going. "So you want me to switch games and come help on the quest." He may not be full of himself but he was ranked number one in SAO. Stats don't lie.

"Yes. One of the people in the group has a friend from another game they are inviting who is really good apparently I was hoping to ask you and Snow Princess to join if possible." While he was sure he could get Asuna to join in he didn't want to give any guarantees.

"What about the fourth person?"

"We didn't have any ideas for that one but if you have someone in mind I am sure that it would be helpful."

"Let me email someone and I will get back to you about what I think." With that he got up thinking about the last person he would contact to see what they would say.

He sat down at his computer and started typing.

"Dear Mr. Kayaba…"

This would be interesting.


	18. Chapter 18

It was Monday after the tournament and the first time Kazuto would be seeing Asuna after finding out she was Snow Princess. They were married in SAO and now dating in real life. It was terrifying for someone who never had a lot of friends before. He also had all the information he spoke with his sister about the night before. It was disconcerting that something that large of scale could occur without the creators of the game doing anything about it. It was the reason he sent an email to talk to Kayaba since Alfheim Online is owned by the same company as SAO. This morning Kazuto got a message back from Kayaba agreeing to a meeting. They would be meeting at a local café not far from school after school was over.

Kazuto left for school and came across Rika and Asuna. Asuna and Kazuto both blushed instantly while Rika just laughed at their shyness.

"Hey." Said Kazuto while he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Hi." Said Asuna as she looked at her feet.

"Seriously! Just hold hands and walk to school! We are going to be late." Said the unnecessary third wheel.

The two did just that as they grabbed each other's hand and blushed even more if that was possible. They walked to school which was noticed by every single person in the building. There had been rumors before about the two of them dating but this just confirmed what everyone had been thinking.

During the walk Kazuto had to think of something to talk about so he told Asuna about everything going on with Alfheim Online. There was something fishy with it.

"Why hasn't the game creators or the GMs stepped in to do something?" She asked.

"I am not sure. It seems that they are waiting for someone to beat it. It could be some huge event that the creators came up with but that doesn't seem to make sense. It feels like a hacker." He responded.

"I would agree with that." She though pensively.

He figured he should just ask her. "Since there is a skill transfer option would you be interested in switching over to help the party. They are looking for the best fighters and my sister asked me invite you."

"Sure. It sounds fun." She smiled beautifully at him. "I didn't know your sister was that good of a gamer though. She seems more like someone focused on the real world."

He chuckled. "That would be true normally as she did try out SAO and she said it wasn't really for her but she does enjoy ALO. While SAO has skill assist and is more like a video game ALO is all based on the person's actual skill. There are no sword skill prompts it is your own movement so for a skilled Kendo user ALO is an ideal practice tool while having fun with her friends. She seemed quite distraught about the possibility of the game being closed down."

"Well I will help out with it. I can transfer over tonight and get any necessary information we need. "

They both went to class. They tried to learn from the lessons Agil was teaching but everyone in the class was more interested and celebrating the victory from the tournament this weekend so not a lot happened for the rest of the day. Unless something happening included some relentless teasing from Ryoutarou. He didn't leave the two love birds alone the entire lunch break talking about how he knew all along.

* * *

Finally the end of school came and everyone left to go home except Kazuto who went to a café to meet with Kayaba. When he arrived at the café he saw the man sitting a table sipping from a cup of coffee. He was wearing a lab coat for some reason. When Kazuto thought about it though it seemed Kayaba was always wearing one. It is a weird fashion statement but to each their own.

"Kazuto. It is nice to see you." Said the programmer as Kazuto sat at the table.

"It is nice to see you as well." He stated calmly back.

"I didn't expect this from you. Are you here to gloat that you beat me or try to blackmail me for better perks with your knowledge." The older man glared at him.

Kazuto was taken aback by this reaction. He did only ask to meet him to talk about something urgent. He never mentioned specifically what he wanted to talk about. So his reaction did make sense. "I apologize if you were under that impression. I wanted to talk about something else. Specifically ALO."

That surprised him. "What do you want to talk about?" He asked calmly.

"ALO is your game. You do know a player has taken it over." Kazuto asked.

"Yes of course." He said with a slight smirk. "It is my game."

"That wasn't you was it?" he asked dubiously.

That he got a full laugh from. "No of course not I like to sit back and watch. What happened with the tournament recently was because you were interesting and I wanted to see you up close. The reason I made ALO was to put everyone in their own races and set everyone on an equal playing ground. I wanted to see how the lack of levels and the identification of a fairy race would change how the world was played."

This confused Kazuto. "So your games are more of a social experiment to you. How people react to being set up in different ways."

"Sort of. And in ALO something interesting happened. Even if it was a hack a group of players took over some monsters and the entire game. It is quite an interesting event and I want to see how it plays out. I want to see a reaction to the actions that he did and how this will play out. And as you have already learned something interesting has occurred. 8 races that dislike each other and work against each other are coming together against a common enemy. Isn't that interesting?" He had a weird gleam to his eyes.

"So you are going to let a player take over your game just to see what happens?" Kazuto asked.

"Yes but it won't be for long. His little cheat triggered something with the monsters he aligned with. The king of the Frost Giants wanted to destroy the Fairy realm and now he gave them the opportunity to succeed. Without the cheat it would never have been possible."

That shocked Kazuto. "You mean that if something isn't done fast that ALO will crash and be destroyed because of the hacking and the Frost Giants?"

"Yes. From what I have noticed the last time I checked the Frost Giants are doing something that is contaminating the tree. It is freezing over and will get to a point where the temperature drops so far that fairies won't survive the environment and it will kill all the trees that are the spawn points for the players destroying the homes of the races." He stated calmly while taking a sip of coffee.

"And you have no intention of getting involved." Kazuto more stated than asked.

"Nope."

"Do you know how long the game has until it will be destroyed?" Kazuto asked.

"If I had to guess I would say that it would take a week or so. Just to be sure if he isn't defeated by Sunday night. Are you going to try and stop him? Just so you know if any character that is inside the game at the time of destruction will be destroyed as well. If you switched over and don't succeed you will lose Kirito." He looked intently at the high schooler sitting across from him.

Slowly it dawned on Kazuto exactly what he was. Kayaba wanted to see what he would do. He was just another thing Kayaba was watching like his games. How Kazuto would react to this threat of losing everything in the game.

"Then I have a week." He got up and walked away from the game creator.

"I look forward to watching your progress." The man gave as a final remark.

* * *

Kazuto got back to the house ready to try and fix what was going on. He sent a message to Ryoutarou about the situation asking him to meet in ALO which he readily agreed.

"It's time." Said his sister from a doorway and they both jumped into the game. Klein, Snow Princess, Kirito, and Leafa all met together in Swilvane. After a quick tutorial of learning how to fly the four of them arrived at a meeting point for the 12 people that are going to take the quest.

Leafa introduced everyone in the group. Besides the three of them there was the leader of the group Eugene. A powerful general from the Salamanders that apparently is considered the most powerful player in the game and is undefeated. Then there was Sakuya. The leader of the Sylphs and quite skilled with her Katana. Another Salamander named Kagemune who is their top lancer was also chosen. Sigurd of the Sylphs was also chosen as one of the top fighters. Alicia Rue, the leader of the Cait Sith was chosen with her close combat claws. Those five with Leafa, Asuna, Klein, and Kirito were the strong fighters chosen to be front line warriors. Then there was Recon who was small with green hair and he was skilled with dark magic apparently. Gtacs, was a powerful mage and leader of the salamander mage group. And finally the outsider that was brought in by Alicia was her friend Sinon. She had blue hair and carried a bow and is said to be the most skilled long distance shooter in a game called Gun Gale Online. She sometimes helped her friend Alicia and would switch into ALO.

With everyone there the planning began.

* * *

AN: There is going to be a lot less focus on the love story between Asuna and Kazuto. There will still be some but personally I always enjoyed more of the point of getting to dating. It will come up and will have moments for the two of them but I will be focusing more on the story. Yui will be involved but I think her role will be quite different than canon. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. Let me know what you think.


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